The Magnificent Seven
by ucsbdad
Summary: Rick believes in all sorts of things that Kate doesn't. However, they find that extraterrestrials believe in them. And do they ever! Our heroes learn all about Alexandria the Farthest. Or do they?
1. Chapter 1

The Magnificent Seven, Chapter One

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I do not own Castle, Kurosawa, or United Artists. Rating: M Time: Season Seven or later.

Rick Castle hurt all over when he woke up. His mouth felt like something had crawled inside it and died. He was laying on something hard and his face was being pricked by something. He pushed himself up with his hands and was overcome with vertigo. He collapsed on his face, but not before throwing up. Luckily, all he had in his stomach was coffee. He'd bought coffee for himself and Kate just a while ago.

"Kate?" He mumbled. "Crap!" He pushed himself up again and dry heaved. This time he made it to his hands and knees. The hard thing he was laying on was an assault rifle and his face had been scratched by dry leaves. _Leaves?_ He thought. _How the hell did I get outside?_

He staggered to his feet, grabbing a nearby tree to steady himself. "Kate?" What he had intended as a yell had come out as a croak. He tried again. "Kate! Where are you? Honey, are you okay?" This he managed in a nearly conversational voice. He swallowed and tried again. "Kate!"

"Castle! Are you okay?" Kate's voice was close. Her voice sounded as bad as his did.

"Yeah! Where are you?" He yelled.

"By a tree."

By a tree was no help. He was in a damned forest. _How the hell did I get here?_ He saw something move not a dozen feet from him. He pushed his way through waist high brush and found Kate with her back against a big tree. He knelt beside her. "Are you okay?" he asked, relieved to have found her.

"I hurt all over, but I don't think anything's broken. My head is pounding and I feel like I'm going to throw up."

"Let me check you out." Castle ran his hands over Kate's body, carefully examining her. "I think you're okay. Want to stand up?" Kate nodded and Rick helped her to her feet.

"Where did you get the clothes?" She asked. "And the weapons?"

"What?" He looked down. Instead of the suit and sport shirt he'd started the day in, he was dressed in a camouflage uniform, with a protective vest and had an assault rifle hanging from a sling over his shoulder. He looked at Kate. "Same place you did, I guess."

Kate looked down at herself. She was dressed in camo as well, and had an M4 carbine over her shoulder. She checked her right hip. Her Glock was in a holster there. She checked herself further and found her backup Glock in a pocket on her thigh.

Rick checked himself as well. In addition to his M4, he had a Glock in a holster, spare ammo and other items in pouches on his vest and he found he had a small pack on his back. Kate was equipped the same.

"How did we get outside? And who changed our clothes?" She asked.

"We were…" Rick began, but stopped when his head started pounding.

"We were in an abandoned slum building. A homeless woman found a body there and told a uniform. We got there before Ryan and Espo. We were in a hallway and…"

"There was a huge flash of light. Like lightening!" Rick finished.

"Yes! A flash of light like lightening!" Said another, female voice. "What did you do to me? Tell me! I demand that you tell me."

They turned around to face an Asian woman, also in a camouflage uniform, but of a different pattern from theirs. She was holding some sort of assault rifle on them. Both of their weapons were slung.

"I said, tell me!" She gestured with the weapon. "I was in the desert outside of Kashgar, now I'm here. How did you transport me here?"

Kate realized that the woman was quite young and very frightened. She had to calm her down before she started shooting. "Relax, we're no threat to you. We have no idea how we got here either. Or where here is. We were in New York City and now we're here. All we know was that there was a flash of light. Like what happened to you? We need to cooperate."

"You're lying to me. You were in America and now you're in China! That's not possible." She was screaming.

"All things are possible with God." Said a male voice from behind and to the side of her. The newcomer was also in cammies, but they looked like they were for a desert area. Around his head was a red and white checked keffiyah. Most importantly to Rick and Kate, he held am M16 rifle in his hands, pointed at the woman. "I too was in the desert, but not in China, in Jordan. There was a flash of light, and then I was here. And here is not a desert. We should look elsewhere for the cause of our misfortune, I think."

The woman slowly lowered her weapon and then slung it over her back.

The Jordanian spoke again. "I am quite curious, however, as to how two Americans and a Chinese woman speak such perfect Arabic?"

The three opened their mouths to speak, but another male voice beat them to it. "Arabic? But certainly you speak Italian as I do?" He walked out from behind a tree. Another camouflage wearer, this time carrying an M4 carbine with a full set of web gear and a red beret on his head.

Everyone began to speak at once, all insisting they spoke their native language, and only that language. While everyone shouted at each other, a confused looking blonde woman, also in cammies and carrying an AK 47 walked into the group. Everyone stopped to stare at her. "Where am I?" She asked. "Where are we? Who are you?"

That set everyone off again, a half a dozen people all arguing about what language they spoke, where they were, how they had gotten here, and who was responsible.

They were finally interrupted by loud laughing. Everyone turned to see a small, black man, also dressed in cammies and carrying a huge backpack as well as a rifle with a telescopic sight, walked out into the middle of the group. "You look but you do not see." He announced. "You," he pointed to the Chinese woman, "say something. Everyone! Watch her mouth. Look and see! Look and see."

"I don't know what you want me to say. Who are you? Did you bring us here?" She started to unsling her rifle.

"I see it!" Kate announced. "I can't really read lips, but I can tell that she isn't speaking English, but when she speaks, that's what I hear."

The small man ran up to her. "Oh, very good! Very good! You have solved part of the riddle. But how we all do this is the other part of the riddle."

"Do you have the other part of the riddle?" asked the blonde.

"No. I have a greater riddle." He ran towards a small hill a few hundred feet away. Halfway there he stopped and waved them to him. "Come! Come, you must see. It is a wonderful riddle."

They all followed him to the top of the small rise and looked down into a small valley with a little creek running through it.

"I have seen water before." The Arab said.

"No! No!" Cried the small man. "Look! What do you see?"

"Oh, crap!" Castle said. "I see a big, green moon. A really big, green moon."

"Yes! Yes!" Cried the little man. "And?"

"A fast moving, smaller red moon." Kate said, taking Rick's hand in hers.

"I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto." Rick whispered.

"Where are we?" Asked the Italian.

"We're not on Earth." Kate said.

"We're not in our solar system." Castle added.

"Where are we?" Asked the Chinese woman.

"I believe I can clear that up." Said a voice from behind them.


	2. Chapter 2

The Magnificent Seven, Chapter Two

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I do not own, Castle! There, I said it! Rating: M Time: The future

All seven whirled around. Confronting them was a slender, white haired, older woman, wearing a flower print dress. Castle thought she looked like some idealized grandmother in a TV commercial. Everyone, even Castle, swung their weapons to cover her.

"Please. I'm no danger to you." She said as she walked towards them. "I couldn't hut you if I wanted to."

That set off a burst of yelling from everyone. Everything from threats, to begging, to cajolery and back again.

Suddenly the black man walked towards her. "Look!" He cried. "Look and see this time." He stared back at the other six. He smiled. "No one sees this?" He looked at Kate. "You did not see?"

Kate shook her head. "What was there to see?"

"She is not here." He cried, and picking up a stone, and throwing it through her. He stood back and smiled at his six companions. "Now you see." He said triumphantly.

The woman spoke. "He's correct. I am a projection. But how did you know?"

"When you walked, you did not disturb the leaves on the ground. I knew you were like the cinema. Just make believe."

"Very good!" She said. "But I have important information for you."

"Where are we?" Asked the Chinese woman.

"As you have surmised, you are on a planet in another solar system. To tell you exactly where it is would be meaningless to you as you'd have no ready frame of reference. However, you are here because we need your help."

"You couldn't have just asked?" Castle said.

The woman smiled. "No. It really doesn't work that way. But I must tell you why you are here." She smiled and appeared to be organizing her thoughts. "Some two thousand of your years ago a great race of explorers came to this galaxy. They were able to travel between galaxies as easily as you travel from one country to another. They were far more knowledgeable than we are. For reason we do not know, they gathered intelligent races from several planets to help in their studies of this galaxy and made this planet their base. After some centuries, they left, leaving their helpers behind. They had educated them and provided them with tools far beyond your current level of technology. But the helpers numbered only a few tens of thousands. Over the centuries, they were unable to maintain the knowledge to repair or rebuild the machines left behind. Eventually, machines designed to work for a millennia or more began to wear out. Today, they have, for instance, a few ocean going ships powered by nuclear fusion, some powered by steam, and many powered by the action of wind upon sails."

"It sounds to me like you need some engineers, not a bunch of well-armed strangers." Castle said.

"My…fellows and I belong to what you might want to think of as a university, a school of philosophy, a monastery, and a few other things that would be difficult to explain. We are not allowed to openly aid societies that we study, but we can, um, nudge them in certain directions. This we did. With really excellent results."

"Great, so can we go home now?" Castle said sarcastically.

"No. We need you."

"Why?" Kate asked.

"Our "nudging" was interrupted by a murder. You are all policemen. We need you to solve this murder."

Kate looked around at her companions. _These are police? _She thought.

"Why the hell can't you do this?" Castle asked angrily.

"It would be difficult. We are not oxygen breathers. We live on planets such as your Jupiter and breathe hydrogen. We are also quite large."

"How large?" The Arab asked.

"Somewhat larger than a blue whale."

"How big is that?" Asked the black man.

"About a hundred feet long and they weigh about two hundred tons." Castle said quietly. He looked over at Kate. "Research." He looked back to the woman. "And you'd need some kind of space suit, wouldn't you."

She nodded. "I'm afraid that if any of us showed up, it would constitute more than just nudging."

Castle stared hard at the woman. "You screwed up, didn't you? You did more than just nudge. You need to solve this so you won't get your own asses in a sling."

The woman smiled. "Perhaps." She pointed down into the valley. "Follow the stream and you'll reach a city. The city is where the murder occurred. There are more things. I left some more supplies for you back among the trees where you initially arrived." '

"Secondly, you are a bit beyond the borders of civilization here. A sort of a no man's land. There are a people called the Cholatte who live out here and raid their civilized neighbors." Beside her appeared an image that looked like a bipedal cockroach with a bit of great ape thrown in. He had a sword at his hip and something that looked like a blunderbuss under his arm.

"You will have noticed that you can understand each other's languages. We implanted a microscopic device in your heads that allow that. The devices are also teaching you the local language so that you will understand the locals."

"Lastly, when you are done, we can return you to your planet. By bending the space time continuum, we can return you to within a few seconds after you left."

She looked at the sky. "It'll be dark in an hour or so. You should stay here tonight and travel tomorrow. I'd post a guard if I were you."

The woman started to fade. "Hey!" Called Castle. "If seeing you is more than nudging, what about when they see humans for the first time?"

"That's no problem." The woman's disembodied voice said. "About half of the planet's population are humans."

Aside from a few heartfelt curses, no one could think of anything to say. They headed back to the trees where they had all met. Rick and Kate found two back packs marked R. Castle and K. Castle. Rick rummaged through his. "Spare clothes, a sleeping bag, MREs, a radio, more ammo, a medical kit and bottled water, and…Gatorade®? What do you have, Honey?"

"The same, except for a makeup kit, birth control pills and some tampons."

"Oh! Do they expect us to be here that long?"

Kate just shrugged. She looked around at her companions. They apparently had found much the same in their packs as she and Rick had, although each of the other five had a protective vest by their packs. "One thing we have to do is find out who these heavily armed police are." Kate stood up and walked to the center of the small clearing they were in. "Since we know why we're here, we need to know something about each other and our abilities as police. I'll start. I'm Detective Kate Beckett Castle, homicide detective with the New York Police Department. I've been a cop for over fifteen years now." She pointed to Rick. "This is my husband, Rick Castle, he's a crime novelist, but he's been helping me solve murders for years. We don't normally wear camouflage uniforms or carry M4 assault rifles, just 9mm Glocks. We had thee when we awoke here." She looked at the Chinese woman. "May I ask who you are? Can you tell us about yourself?"

The woman glared at Kate. "I am Corporal Chen Suay Den, People's Armed Police of the People Republic of China. I was outside of Kashgar in Xinjiang, looking in the desert for a splittist's camp, when I got separated from my unit. There was a flash of light and I found myself here. I have been with the police for three years."

"What kind of a rifle is that?" Castle asked.

She looked angrily at Castle. Then spoke. "It is a Type 95 assault rifle. It fires a 5.8 mm bullet, somewhat larger that the bullets for your rifles. I will not be able to fire your ammunition through my rifle. However, I also have a Type 77 pistol which fire the same 9mm round as your pistols." She continued to glare at Rick and Kate.

Kate nodded to the Arab. "And you, sir."

"I am Sergeant Fuad al Husseini, Royal Bedouin Police. I serve His Majesty, Abdullah II, of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan."

"Feudal lackey." Chen muttered. Kate was deciding that Chen would be a problem.

Sergeant Husseini ignored the comment. "I am armed with an American M16A4 rifle and an M9 9mm pistol, so our ammunition is compatible. We patrol the desert in Jordan and my unit was looking for smugglers who were providing weapons to anti-government forces in Iraq. I was crawling down a wadi when there was a flash of light, and I found myself here."

Kate nodded to the Italian. "I am Junior Corporal Amadeo d'Annunzio, Tuscany Paratroop Regiment, of the Carabinieri, the Italian military police. I am a medic of a year and a half of service. I was on maneuvers in the mountains when I was transported here by a flash of light. As you, I am armed with the M4 carbine and I also have a 9 mm Beretta 92FS. In addition, I have my medical bag." He motioned to a large camouflage bag by his foot.

Kate was confused. "You're part of a military police paratroop regiment?"

"Yes." Said d'Annunzio. He didn't seem to think that any further explanation was needed.

"Kate," Rick said quietly, "the Italian Carabinieri have both military and civil police powers, even though they're part of the armed forces. A lot of countries have paramilitary police services that are essentially internal security troops." Knowing what Kate's next question would be, he added, "I was going to have Dereck Storm get involved with the mafia. Research."

Kate shrugged and nodded to the blonde woman. "I am Junior Sergeant Irina Ivanova Konev, of the Troops of the Ministry of the Interior of Russia. I was manning a roadblock in Dagestan, looking for Chechen terrorists. I went into the trees to relieve myself there was a flash of light and I was here. I have a Kalashnikov 103 chambered for the 7.62mm round. My weapon will not fire any of your ammunition. I have a pistol, a GSh 18. It will fire your pistol ammunition. My father, mother, and my brothers were all Ministry of the Interior Troops, naturally, I followed them."

Kate felt that Irina hadn't been very keen to follow in mom and dad's footsteps.

The black man smiled at Kate. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Corporal Hendrick Boutje of the Namibian Police Field Force. I am a San, what you might call a Bushman. We live in the Kalahari Desert. I am a police tracker. I was tracking a murderer in the desert when a flash of light brought me here. I am armed with a South African made R1 rifle. It uses the 7.62mm NATO round, a heavier, more powerful, cartridge than your assault rifles. With its greater range, especially with a telescopic sight, it is a better weapon for a flat desert. I also carry a 9mm Browning Hi Power pistol so I can use you pistol ammunition."

Kate looked at her new companions. "We've been told that we're here to solve a murder. Do any of you have any experience in investigating murders or any other types of felonies?"

All of the other police shook their heads. Sergeant Konev was the only one to speak. "I was involved in a murder case one time, but all I did was help seal off a block while the senior people investigated."

"Then I suggest that my wife be in command of this group. At least temporarily." Castle suggested.

Chen strode towards Castle and Kate. "And why should the Americans be automatically in charge? Do you think you run this world as well as our home world? This is unacceptable! I call on you all to block this hegemonist plot!"

Corporal Boutje walked over to stand by Kate. "Captain Castle is the only trained homicide detective among us. It would seem appropriate that she lead us for now."

Sergeant Husseini also stood by Kate. "I agree." He said quietly.

D'Annunzio walked over and stood between Boutje and Husseini. He was quickly followed by Konev.

"That's six." Rick said quietly.

Chen glared at the six for a minute or so, then walked over and stood somewhat near to Kate.

"That's seven." Castle said with satisfaction.

"Okay, "Kate said, glad that was over, "it's getting late. We should eat and then get to some sleep. I'll figure out a roster for guard duty while we all eat."


	3. Chapter 3

The Magnificent Seven, Chapter Three

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Again, don't own it. Rating: M (Eventually, probably.) Time: The future.

Rick dug into his pack and pulled out a plastic bag. "We've been given MREs, meals rejected by everyone."

"Would you a rather go hungry?" Kate asked.

"I'd rather have my own kitchen and pantry."

"And I'd rather have our own bed." She said softly, with a smile.

"Oh, Mrs. Castle. What you do to me."

"What do you have there?"

He read the contents of the package he'd pulled out. "I have chili and beans, corn bread, cheese spread, tortillas, something called a Ranger bar, some sort of mystery beverage and some spices, in addition to a spoon and…a flameless ration heater. Oh, and I also have instant coffee."

Kate read her MRE bag. "Beef stew, peanut butter, jelly, wheat bread, nuts and raisin mix, pretzels, cocoa, hot sauce, a heater like yours, and…no coffee? They can't do this to me!"

"You can have mine." Rick said quickly. He did not want to have to deal with a coffee-less Kate.

"Instant coffee?" She said grimly.

"Would you rather do without?"

She laughed. "Instant it is." She put the MRE in the heater and watched Castle do the same. She looked around. The three other men were sitting together, discussing each other's food, their weapons, equipment and past experiences. No trouble there, she thought. Chen, however, was sitting facing away from everyone. _No doubt. She was going to be a problem._ Kate thought. Konev was also sitting apart, but she looked sad and lost, looking from Chen, to the three men and then to Kate and Rick._ I need to bring her into the group._

"Irina Ivanova, "Kate said, "Come sit with us." Kate patted the ground between her and Rick.

The blonde looked surprised but then moved over next to Kate.

"Where are you from, Irina Ivanova?"

"Volgagrad, on the Volga River, in southern Russia. My father retired there."

Kate nodded. "I lived in Kiev for a while when I was young."

"As a policewoman?"

"No, as a student. I was training to be a lawyer."

"And you became a policewoman?"

"My mother was a lawyer, but she was murdered. I became a cop to avenge her."

"Did you?"

Kate thought for a second, "Yes. I killed the man who killed her, and arrested the man who sent the killer."

"Do you speak Russian?" Irina stopped for a moment. "I do not know how to address you. You know my given name and patronymic. You are…?

"Call me Kate. In America we don't have patronymics. My middle name is Houghton, which was my mother's maiden name. I was Kate Beckett, and I still am on the job. It can be confusing having two Castles on the same team." Late laughed. "And to finally answer your question, I do speak Russian, although since we hear each other in our native tongues, I can't really prove it."

"Can you read Russian? The Cyrillic alphabet?" Irina asked.

"Certainly."

She took a folded up piece of paper out of her shirt. "This is from my boyfriend." She handed it to Kate.

Kate decided this was a test to see if she was telling the truth about speaking Russian. She took the paper and read it. "Sweetest Irina, it is lonely here without you. Today Tasha and I walked down by the river and I read to her my latest poems. We wondered about you and…"

Irina took the letter back quickly. "He's probably sleeping with Tasha. She was my best friend. They're both poets. I have no talent." She suddenly looked at Rick. "Your husband? You say he is a writer? Does he write poetry?"

Kate shook her head. "No, he doesn't. Just crime novels."

"Just a minute there, Mrs. Castle. I do to write poetry. I'm a great poet."

Kate lifted an eyebrow and stared at Rick. "Care to demonstrate?"

Rick cleared his throat,

"There once was a woman named Kate,

"And a writer whom she did hate,

"He wrote many books,

"About how she caught crooks,

"And ended up as her mate."

Both Kate and Irina laughed.

"You are definitely not a great poet, Rick." Kate said. "But I do appreciate the sentiments."

After the three had eaten, Irina stayed near Rick and Kate, smiling shyly at both of them.

_I hope she doesn't get too interested in us._ Kate thought. _That could be as bad as Chen's open dislike of everyone else. _

Kate set up the guard duty roster for the night just as the sun went down. Due to the large green moon, the much smaller red one and a very fast dark moon, the night was brighter than it would have been on Earth.

"Guess what?" Rick said.

"You found an air mattress?" She teased.

"No, better. If we unzip the sleeping bags all the way, we can turn the two bags into one large bag." He was already hard at work zipping the two together.

"You realize we can't fool around with all these people around?"

"Katherine Houghton Beckett Castle! Do you _always_ have sex on your mind?"

"Of course. Don't you?"

He nodded. "Well played, Kate. Well played."

They took their boots and protective vests off and slid into the bag. Kate kissed Rick lightly and snuggled next to him.

"Can I ask you something?" She whispered.

"Always." He said, sliding his hand under her tee shirt.

She moved his hand away. "I'm serious. Is this a dream come true for you? We're on another planet, we'll meet real extraterrestrials and probably see technological marvels. How do you feel?"

"I wish I was home in bed with you." He kissed her lightly. "But we're going to solve the murder and get back home. After all, they got the best homicide detective on Earth to investigate. And I'm pretty good myself."

"But the rest of the so-called police we got are basically internal security troops, more like soldiers than cops. Do these people really know what they're doing? We should have gotten another half dozen homicide investigators, maybe an ME, someone from forensics, and…I don't know what else."

"What I worry about is that maybe our holographic granny and her pals do know what they're doing. Maybe we don't need more than one good detective to solve this murder, but we do need a lot of heavily armed help. That doesn't make me feel better about this."

"We'll find out soon enough. Good night, Rick. I love you."

"I love you, too, Kate."

Kate was awakened by a very light kiss. "That had better be you, Castle."

"It's time for your guard duty shift. Isn't that a great alarm clock?"

"I would rather have stayed asleep." She grumped, crawling out of the sleeping bag. She put on her boots and protective vest, picked up her M4 and began walking around their small camp. She kept moving so the boredom of the quiet night wouldn't put her to sleep.

"Captain Castle?" A soft voice from behind her said.

She whirled around. Boutje was standing right behind her. She looked down. The ground was covered with dry leaves. "How did you do that without making any noise?"

Boutje laughed. "I have been training for this since I was a child. We are hunters. Make too much noise and you go hungry."

She nodded. "I suppose you're quite good."

"I heard something in the trees a bit ago. I went to look. It was a small nocturnal animal. I did not recognize it. I suspect we have nothing like it on our planet. I thought you should know, Captain."

"Thank you. But I'm not a captain. I'm a detective."

"You should be a captain, I think. You are our leader and should outrank us. I will call you Captain Castle."

Before Kate could reply, Boutje bid her a good night and went quietly back to his sleeping bag.

It was dawn when the last sentry finished his tour. Kate was happy that the days on this planet were about the same as those on Earth. That would make adjusting to the new world easier.

Castle pulled two more MREs out of their packs and started breakfast as the rest of the team got ready for the day. "Kate, we don't have any coffee."

Kate swore under her breath. "No coffee? These people are really going to owe me for solving their damned murder."

D'Annunzio spoke up. "You like coffee? I have coffee in my ration, but I don't drink coffee. I much prefer tea. You can have my coffee."

Kate happily took the coffee. As d'Annunzio walked away, Konev spoke up quietly. "You like tea? My ration has tea, enough for two cups. I'll be happy to share." D'Annunzio sat down beside the blonde Russian and they brewed their tea.

"We may have another couple." Castle whispered as he brewed her a cup of coffee.

"I hope so." She whispered back. "We'll be better off as a seven person team rather than seven individuals."

Once they had eaten, they packed their gear, put on their flak vests and looked to Kate for directions. She walked over to the small hill that they had stood on the night before when the…What? Projection had talked to them. "We were told that there's a city if we follow the stream down there. Corporal Boutje, I think you should take the point. Sergeant Husseini, would you take…"

Chen broke in before she could finish. "Why is she making these decisions? She does not have the qualifications that the rest of us do. She may be useful if and when we reach this city, but I, for one, will not follow someone who has no qualifications. I refuse. I will leave if I have to."

Boutje nodded. "As you have every right to. However, I will continue to follow Captain Castle."

"She is not a captain!" Chen screamed.

"The English word captain comes from the Italian word for head, therefore leader." D'Annunzio spoke up. "If she is the leader of our team, she is the captain. And I follow Captain Castle.

"You do not have to follow the captain, as I now do." Husseini said quietly. "However, if you do not, you'll be on your own, I think. I would guess that I am the oldest and most experienced of all of us. I have served His Majesty for seventeen years. I would not be able to help you if you leave, would I?"

D'Annunzio added, "And you would have no medic to treat you if you are injured."

Konev walked over to stand by Kate and d'Annunzio. "I am with Captain Castle. Who are you with?"

Chen stood and glared at them for a long time. "Where do you want me…Captain Castle?" She finally said through gritted teeth.

"Boutje on point, then Chen, then my husband and I, then d'Annunzio, Konev and finally Husseini." She looked around, trying not to single out Chen. "Anyone have any other ideas?"

As no one did, they walked down the hill to the stream and began their journey.

The new planet looked much like Earth. Some trees and bushes looked familiar. Others weren't. What appeared to be an Earth rabbit ran across their path, stopped and looked at them, then shot off into the woods. Later, something with antlers and six legs about the size of a German shepherd ran out of the woods and considered them carefully until they were out of its sight. A large bird flew over them, skimmed over the stream, grabbed something with its talons, and flew away."

"That didn't look like a fish it grabbed."

"Difficult to say." Konev said. "We have fish in the Volga back home." She was silent for a minute or so. "I do not know what either of those were."

At noon they stopped to eat. Castle checked his and Kate's pack. "We have two more meals apiece." He read from the packages. "We have lemon pepper tuna, beef and black beans, pork rib and beef stew as your main dishes with the usual side dishes, but no coffee." Castle waited for the explosion.

"We have coffee." Konev said. She and d'Annunzio walked over. He handed Kate a packet of instant coffee.

"Thank you. I really appreciate this." Kate said.

Konev looked like she was going to say something, then turned away from Kate and Rick. D'Annunzio put his arm around her. "Ask her."

Konev shook her head. D'Annunzio smiled at Rick and Kate. "Russian rations are not as good as other nations' food. Perhaps we can all share?"

Kate looked at Rick, who nodded. "Sure. Why not."

The four sat together and traded parts of their rations. D'Annunzio had been right. The Russian meat ration was full of fat and oil, and way too salty. The rest was adequate. The Italian rations were much better.

When they were done, Rick stood up. "Hey, everyone. The four of us have one more ration left. How about the rest of you?"

Husseini and Chen each also had only one ration left. However, Boetje held up a wax paper package of something. "I have one issue ration, but my wife always makes me some biltong to take with me on a patrol. It's dried meat with some salt and black pepper. Very good. I will share."

"Where the hell is the city?" Castle asked." If we're supposed to run out of food at dinner time tonight, we should be damned close. I don't see anything that looks like we're anywhere near a city."

Kate shrugged. "Maybe it's all underground. Maybe it's camouflaged. We don't know."

They finished their lunch and resumed their trek downstream.

By late afternoon, they came to a point where the stream widened to a small lake some fifty yards wide.

"We should refill our canteens." Husseini said.

Kate nodded. She and Rick had camelBak hydration systems, essentially a small waterproof back pack with a tube they could drink from. As Kate and Rick removed theirs the refill them, they heard a piercing scream.


	4. Chapter 4

The Magnificent Seven, Chapter Four

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I own none of this. Rating: M, eventually. Time: the future.

Kate and Rick whirled around when they heard the scream. Irina was backing away from the stream, still screaming. They could see something white on her arm and her chest. Both Husseini and d'Annunzio were rushing towards her. Boutje was walking slowly towards where she had been standing by the river, his rifle pointed in front of him. Chen was watching.

"Come on." She yelled to Castle, who followed her as she ran to Konev.

When they got there, Husseini was cutting something white off of her and stomping on them when they hit the ground. One of the white things had latched onto her arm. Husseini was sawing away at it with his knife. Most of it fell to the ground where d'Annunzio stomped on it. As they watched, the rest of the thing slid off Irina's arm, leaving a bloody circle behind.

"Hold her." Cried Amadeo." I'll get my medical bag." He hurried away, but was back in seconds. "How do you feel?"

"My arm is numb. Up to my mid bicep."

"I can't stop the bleeding." D'Annunzio muttered, concentrating on the task at hand. He pulled a paper container from his bag, tore in open and spread some sort of powder on the wound on her arm. "That's better. It's a clotting agent, Irina. It'll stop the bleeding."

Husseini was examining her protective vest and ammo pouches. "Those things cut through the cloth on one of her ammo pouches and scratched the metal magazine inside. Same with the vest. It chewed away the cloth cover and chewed into the Kevlar® underneath. Those things have teeth!"

Boutje brought over the body of one of the white things, holding it on his bayonet. It looked like a big mushroom with thick legs. "I think these things sit in the water and wait for something to come down for a drink. I'll bet they inject their victim with something that paralyzes them. Then they can eat at their pleasure."

"How does your arm feel, Irina?" D'Annunzio asked.

"I'm still numb up to my bicep, but nowhere else."

Kate checked her watch. "It's late afternoon. By the time we're sure that Irina is okay, it'll be too late to go any further. We'll stop here or the night."

"Captain Castle?" Boutje said. "I'd like to take a quick look around."

She nodded. "Okay, don't go too far, though. And keep in touch with us on your radio."

Boutje nodded and headed off down the river.

D'Annunzio helped Irina walk to the nearby trees where they would set up their camp.

"We still need water." Kate said. "Castle and I will take the canteens over and fill them up where we don't see any of those white things."

Kate and Rick had just finished filling the canteens and their CamelBaks when Boutje called on the radio. "Captain Castle. I'm about a half a kilometer downstream. I've found the first evidence that this place is inhabited. It's an abandoned building. Looks pretty beat up, but it has four walls and most of the roof. We might want to set up here for the night."

She turned to d'Annunzio. "Can she move a half a kilometer?"

He looked at Irina, who nodded. "She can."

"Okay, everyone. Boutje found an abandoned building about a half a click away. We'll stay there tonight." She called Boutje back on the radio. "We're on our way. Have you checked out the building yet?"

"Negative." Came the reply. "It's in a clearing facing the stream. There's a good sixty or seventy meters of open ground before you get to the building. If someone is inside, they have a clear shot."

"Okay. Wait until we get there."

Irina was able to walk without effort and they got to the building in no time at all. Boutje came to meet them. "I took a look around the perimeter, Captain. I saw nothing that would lead me to believe that anything is waiting for us inside. But on this new planet…Who knows?"

Kate examined the building. It was a one story, rectangular stone structure with a broken in front door, narrow windows and what looked like a slate roof. She guessed it was a hundred feet on a side. Nothing moved.

Kate nodded and looked around at her team. "Irina, d'Annunzio, Chen and Rick, stay here and get ready to give us covering fire. Boutje, Husseini and I will go to the building."

"Like hell." Rick said. "We're partners, remember? I go where you go."

"Rick, I don't need you disputing my…"

"Actually, using four people is a good idea." Husseini said. "You and Rick take the downstream side of the house. Boutje and I go in the front. If anything happens, we have them in a crossfire."

"Suppose there are more than one person inside?" Kate snapped.

Boutje smiled. "Suppose there are twenty in side with heavy weapons? We should just go now."

Rick smiled at her and she nodded. "Give us a few minutes to get in position. We'll let you know by radio when we're ready."

In the end, the move on the building was anticlimactic. It was empty. The building was one large room, but it looked like that at one time there had been wooden partitions in the back. Boutje looked around. "This has been abandoned for a long time. The wood on the doors is rotten." He walked over to the fireplace in the back and knelt down. "There hasn't been a fire here in many years." He inhaled deeply and then chuckled. "Hard to say, not knowing anything about this world, but I'd guess that the former inhabitants lived here with their farm animals."

"Too had they didn't leave some chickens or something behind for us." Rick grumped. "We're almost out of food."

"And how does our leader expect to rectify that?" Chen said acidly.

"Do you have a solution?" D'Annunzio shot back.

"No. I'm merely pointing out that…"

"We're on a different planet where none of us know what's happening." Husseini finished for her.

Kate decided she needed to get everyone's mind off their problems. "We should have dinner now. If anyone local knows about this place and heads for it, I don't want to give away our position by showing any lights from a fire."

Dinner was getting to be routine. Kate, Rick, Irina and Amadeo pooled their food and Kate got her coffee. Husseini and Boutje sat near them, each eating his own food and chatting. Chen sat at the far end of the building and glared at everyone.

"If she was smart, she'd at least pretend to like other people." Rick said quietly. "She'd do better that way."

"Until someone discovered she's really a bitch." Irina replied.

D'Annunzio shrugged. "She's still useful as she is. She's a pair of hands and a pair of eyes. She's not dumb enough to sleep while on watch. She could wake up dead that way."

"We could all wake up dead." Kate added.

After dinner, Boutje walked over to Kate. "I'd like to take another little look around."

Kate nodded. "Same as before. Don't go too far and keep in touch on the radio."

"Yes, Captain Castle." Boutje smiled at her.

Kate felt a little embarrassed. Boutje probably knew more about scouting than anyone. He didn't need her telling him what to do.

Almost as soon as Boutje walked out the front door, he ducked back in. "Movement in the woods. From the back." He trotted to the back of the building. The rest followed him, looking out the small, narrow windows.

"These look like weapons slits than windows to me." Husseini said quietly. "Perhaps this was a bunker once."

"I see nothing." Chen said. "You're wrong."

"Then what are those? Irina asked.

"Crap!" Rick muttered. Out of the woods came four beings that looked like bipedal cockroaches with some great ape thrown in.

"Those are the Cholattes the woman warned us of." D'Annunzio said.

"Seven of us and four or them." Boutje said. "I'll take the one in the lead, Fuad, you take the one…"

"No!" Kate said sharply. "We're not going to just kill them. We have no reason to believe they're a danger to us. I'll go try to talk to them." She turned and headed for the door when she was swept off her feet and pushed towards the back wall of the building.

She whirled around and saw Rick headed for the door at a trot. "Castle! Stop!" She went after him.

He got through the door and was at the edge of the building where the four Cholattes could see him. "Hu, guys. How's things?"

The lead Cholatte raised his weapon and fired at Rick just as Kate dragged him back behind the solid wall of the building. He heard a bullet whistle by his head. "Thanks, Kate."

"Don't you ever…" She began. She was interrupted by the roar of a weapon on full automatic and the deliberate sound of single shots. Kate and Rick ran back inside the building, just as the rest of her team were running out the door.

"We knocked them down." Boutje, who was in the lead, said. "I think they're dead."

Rick and Kate turned around and headed back outside.

"Chen fired her full clip on full auto." D'Annunzio said. "I don't think she got even one round in them. All of the rest of us fired single shots, even Irina."

Kate looked back. Chen was walking slowly out of the building, well behind the others.

Al four Cholattes looked dead. Boutje pulled out his pistol and began to examine the bodies. "I shot the first one in the head." He commented. He then lifted the being's head up. "They have exoskeletons, like bugs. And it's tough. See? Here's my shot in his head, but there's no exit wound. A human hit in the head with a full power round at close range, the slug would have gone straight through and still had enough energy to kill another person. They're tough, all right."

"Odd selection of weapons." Husseini said, kneeling by the Cholatte that was farthest away. "Look at what this one is carrying." He held up a pair of large flintlock pistols. "These things are a couple of centuries behind our weaponry. And he had this." He gestured to something laying by the body. "It looks like a big pry bar, sharpened at the bottom and with an axe head crudely welded to the top." He pulled a wooden tube from a brightly colored sash around the Cholattes waist. Husseini sniffed it. "Black powder, I'd say."

Boetje was examining the second one. "He has a sword, no scabbard. It kind of looks like it might have started out life as a saw. The bottom of the blade has been sharpened but the top still has saw teeth. Nasty weapon in a close up fight. His other weapon is a kind of a gigantic sawed off, muzzle loading shotgun." He took his bayonet and pushed it into the bore of the weapon. Then he held the weapon barrel down and shook it. "Hmm! It's loaded with scraps of metal and is also a black powder weapon. Nasty as well, at close range."

Husseini had moved to the third one. "This one is better armed. A pistol using metallic cartridges and a bolt action rifle. Kind of beat up, but functional. He also has a knife." He pulled the knife from the hide belt the dead alien wore. "A substantial knife. The blade's a good third of a meter long." He tested it with his finger. "Sharp, too." He tucked the knife in his own belt.

"This one has an interesting weapon." Boutje had gotten to the first alien that had been killed, the one in front. "It kind of looks like the old American M79 grenade launcher." The weapon looked like a break top single barreled shotgun. Boutje worked a latch and the barrel dropped down and ejected a spent shell. "Maybe a bit bigger than the 40mm M79. Maybe 45 millimeters?"

"And they're not grenades. Look at the bandolier over his shoulder. " D'Annunzio said. "They're just big lead slugs."

"One of them is carrying a pack. Let's look at what's in it." Irina said.

Boetje Pulled the pack off of the dead Cholattes' back and turned it upside down. Something fell out.

Kate's stomach churned when she saw what it was.


	5. Chapter 5

The Magnificent Seven, Chapter Five

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I own as much of Castle as I did in the first three chapters. None. Rating: M Time: The future.

Kate looked down at what had fallen from the dead Cholatte's back pack and managed to control her stomach.

Boutje dropped to one knee to examine it more closely. "It's a human leg, all right. I'd say it's been roasted first. Those look like tooth marks there." He pointed to the leg, then used his bayonet to pry open a dead Cholatte's mouth. "Looks like their teeth." He stood back up. "I guess we don't want to get captured by them."

He turned to Sergeant Husseini. "You want to help me drag 'em into the woods, Fuad?"

"Why do that?" Castle asked.

Husseini gestured to the building. "This has been here a long time. Lots of people, or whatever these things are, know about it. More will be by. Perhaps soon, perhaps later. If we leave the bodies here in the open, and they have friends coming after them, they'll take off after us. If we leave the bodies in the woods, their friends won't have any idea what happened to them."

"Take them into the woods. Cover them up as best you can." Kate ordered. "Amadeo, cover them from the back of the building. Castle, you watch from the door, Irina, that window. Chen, the other side. Go!"

It took ten minutes for the two men to drag the bodies off. When they got back, Husseini reported to Kate. "We found a little dip in the ground out there. Pushed them in and Boutje used his shovel to cover them up."

"We should keep their weapons." Rick said. "Sooner or later we'll run out of ammo. Then, even a flintlock pistol will look good with one of those things after us."

"We buried the weapons with the dead." Fuad said. "I'll go collect them." He turned to Boutje. "Cover me?"

Boutje nodded and took up a position at one of the window slits.

Fuad was back quickly. "We're set. With God's help, we're ready for whatever this planet has for us. "

"Okay, but tonight I still want two guards on duty at…"

"Captain Castle!" Boutje called. "Come here, please."

Kate walked over to Boutje who was standing by the door. He pointed. "That wasn't there when Fuad and I came in."

Kate looked. Attached to a small bush was a small square of orange cloth. "Any idea what it is?" She asked Boutje. Kate looked around her. Everyone but Chen had gathered around her and the tracker.

"No. But we should go look." Boutje said.

Kate nodded, "Rick, you and Fuad go out and take a look at the orange thing."

The two slipped out and headed for the orange square which was not twenty meters away. When they got there, they went past the bush and looked at something. Rick knelt down. Kate cursed herself for sending the man she loved out there.

Castle stood up and waved to Kate. "Someone up there like us. It's a box full of supplies. We'll bring it in."

Rick and Fuad each grabbed an end of the box and ran to the building. They put it down and Rick opened it up. He held something up for Kate to see, smiling as he did so. "Two jars of instant coffee, Kate. This should last a while."

Kate couldn't help but smile back at him. "What else?"

The box contained more food, but this time there were no Russian rations. Irina would apparently be eating Italian rations. There was more than enough ammunition to replace what they'd fired and seven night vision devices with batteries. Two pairs of binoculars completed the contents of the box. Kate took one pair of binoculars for herself and handed the other pair to Boutje.

"You don't suppose that those things they put in our heads can broadcast as well, do you?" Rick asked. "It seems awfully convenient that we got more ammo just as we use some of ours." 

Kate looked at her team. "We have no way to tell. We should just be happy someone is taking care of us. We'll still take the Cholatte's weapons, though." She gestured to the now empty box. "This may not last."

The night passed without incident and they headed off at daybreak the next morning. They had lunch by a small lake. Rick sat by the edge of the lake, filling their canteens and CamelBaks and being very careful. "You know, that looks like a beaver dam at the end of the lake." He said casually.

"The logs look too big to be put in place by beavers." Kate replied.

"This is a different planet. Maybe they have really big beavers."

"Do you always have to think about sex?" She teased.

"How can I avoid thinking about sex when you're right in front of me? It's not my fault that you're so gorgeous, sexy and desirable, is it?"

"I look at you all the time, but I can…" Kate stopped and pointed across the lake. Something tall and grey was getting out of the water. In its hands was a spear. "That's not beaver." She whispered.

Whatever it was, it was definitely bipedal and it appeared to be about human sized. It turned around, saw Rick and Kate, then dived back in the water and was gone.

"What was that?" Asked Rick.

"Not one of the Chollates, anyway."

"We have company." Rick called to the others. All seven were soon lined up, looking out into the lake as Kate and Rick explained what they'd seen.

"Look!" Said Boutje. "Something moved out on the lake. Like something sticking its head up and taking a really quick look at us."

"The one you saw had a spear?" Amadeo asked.

"Yes." Kate replied.

"One of them could pop up, throw a spear and be back under water before we could react." Boutje said thoughtfully.

"We should keep moving." Irina said quietly.

"Yeah. I think a pool party is not a good idea." Rick added.

They shouldered their packs and continued their march down river. They stopped before sunset to cook their food and dig in as best they could in the woods near the river. The Cholatte's sword with the saw teeth proved useful in cutting firewood and helping to build a small barricade.

As the sun was going down, Kate asked Amadeo. "Where are you from? How did you end up a Carabinieri?"

"I'm from around Venice, in the north of Italy. I wasn't very good in school, but I loved sports. My father got me a job as an apprentice with an auto mechanic. Working on cars was okay, but I wanted to be outside. And my boss! What a monster! All the time he complained. One day I talked to my friend Paulo, who had enlisted in the Navy, served in the San Marco Brigade, the marines. Talked about how tough he was. And I used to knock him down on the football field every time. I thought about enlisting, so I asked my papa. He exploded! "Absolutely not!" he roared. So naturally, I enlisted. I was going to follow my friend Paulo, but the first person I talked to was the recruiter for the Carabinieri. And here I am."

By then the sun was down. Kate set up the guard roster and the rest turned in. Kate was dreaming of Rick when someone whispered in her ear. "Captain Castle?"

"Hendrick?" She murmured.

"Something is moving down the river. Fuad saw it with his night vision devices. Very good they are."

Kate crawled out of her sleeping bag, waking Rick. "Kate? What is it?"

"Grab your night vision goggles and come with us. We have company."

Rick slipped on his goggles and turned them on. The world seemed bathed in a soft, green glow, but he could see just fine. He joined Kate, Boutje and Husseini who were looking at the river and what was on it.

"I saw them through the trees where the river bends away from us and called Hendrick. When they came into view, he called you, Captain."

Even with the night vision goggles, it was hard to make out any details. There was some sort of boat coming down stream with perhaps six people in it and something in the middle of the boat.

"Looks a little like a beech bark canoe. It _is_ propelled by paddles." Rick whispered.

"The people in it look sort of like the one we saw back at the lake. But they are basically humanoid and not Cholattes."

They watched until the craft was out of sight.

"We'll go back to bed." Kate said. "And talk about this in the morning.

In the morning they told the others, but no one really had anything to say that was useful. This didn't stop Chen from complaining. "You should have stopped them. They could have told us where we are. They could have given us a ride."

"They could have had us for dinner." Rick muttered.

"We should stay to ourselves for as long as possible." Sergeant Husseini said. "Perhaps we'll get more supplies before we meet up with more people. Or whatever lives here."

They shouldered their packs and continued their march. The woods were starting to thin out and the small river they had been following was getting larger. After some discussion, Kate decided to stick with the river and not try to stay in the woods, which were no longer near the river at all. When they arrived at a small hilltop, they could see that the woods gave way almost completely to prairie with just a few groves of trees scattered about.

"No more cover." Amadeo said.

"We should have stayed in the woods." Chen snapped, looking angrily at Kate.

"And do what?" Irina asked mildly.

Chen glared at the blonde, but had no answer.

Finally, Boutje, still on point, topped a rise and immediately dropped to his belly.

"Down!" Kate commanded. Her team took up an all-around defensive position, but found no enemies. Boutje pulled out his binoculars and scanned whatever as in front of them, then turned and called to Kate. "Captain Castle, you should see this."

"Stay here." She said to Rick. "And I mean it. Stay here."

He shrugged. "Sure. I'm as safe, or in as much danger, here as anywhere else."

She trotted up to Boutje and dropped to her stomach. She pulled out her binoculars and looked downstream. "A bridge."

"The stream we've been following joins a larger river and just a few kilmeters down-stream from where they meet, someone built a nice bridge. Almost."

"Almost?" Kate asked.

"It's a very nice bridge, consisting of three archways. But the middle span has been destroyed. It appears that span has been replaced by a rather crude looking wooden bridge."

Kate looked through her binoculars, and could just barely make out the wooden structure. She was again glad they had Boutje with them. "It's the first sign of civilization we've seen since the abandoned building. The old lady told us we were to head for a city. I'll bet if we cross that bridge, we'll find the city."

She called the others up and explained that she had decided to cross the bridge to look for the city. Everyone nodded in agreement except Chen, who just glared at everyone. But Chen followed them when they headed for the bridge.

Up close, the wooden bridge looked a lot less safe than it had from a distance. Husseini walked out a few steps on the bridge and looked down. "A rather fast current. But the bridge looks like it will hold us. Still, I would suggest we cross one at a time."

"We should try to swim." Chen said.

"Carrying our weapons and all of our equipment?" Irina asked. "But we should take off everything and hold it in our hands. That way if any of us do fall, we won't be dragged down by the weight."

Rick volunteered to go first as he was the heaviest. If the rickety wooden bridge held him, the rest should be okay. Kate hated the idea, but didn't have a better one. One by one they crossed the bridge, As soon as he was across, Boutje went to see what there was to be seen.

Kate stayed by the bridge to supervise the crossing, and once everyone was across, to make sure all their gear had made it across. Everyone was putting on their packs when Boutje called out. "Captain Castle. I've found something here."

Kate trotted over to see what he had found. He had knelt down and was scraping the topsoil away with his bayonet. "Under a thin layer of dirt and grass, I have found an old road." Boutje said. He stood up and looked down river. "I think the old road parallels the river. I believe we should follow it. Certainly a road will lead to the city we seek." 

Kate nodded and called the others over. "Boutje has found a road. It seems to follow the river. It must lead somewhere, so we're going to follow it."

They resumed their march. They had been walking for several hours and Kate was thinking about breaking for lunch when something shot past them over head.

"What was that?" She asked.

"I don't know. It didn't look alike any kind of an airplane that I've ever seen. No wings, no rotors and no engine sound."

"It's coming back." Boutje said. "I think we should spread out in case it tries to strafe us."


	6. Chapter 6

The Magnificent Seven, Chapter Six

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own. Castle. Rating: M (Eventually) Time: The future.

The group scattered as the aircraft banked and came back towards them.

"Castle, get away from me. If we bunch up, we're more of a target."

Castle ignored her, standing in front of her. "I'm staying right here."

She growled and before he knew what hit him, she had knocked him down and was on top of him. He wrestled with her until he was on top of her. "If he starts shooting, he'll have to go through me to get to you." Kate tried to push him off of her.

"I realize that you are married, "Called Boutje, "but could you perhaps pay a bit more attention to our problems." Both Rick and Kate began giggling in spite of what was happening. Boutje spoke again. "He's coming in lower and slower than he was when he went by the first time." Boutje stuck his head up to get a better view. "He's about five hundred meters up and moving at two hundred kilometers per hour, perhaps."

Rick looked up at the flying object going past them. It was egg shaped, definitely had neither wings nor rotors and made no sound. It was a mottled grey in color, but with nothing to compare it to, it was hard to judge its size, but Rick guessed it was the local equivalent of a single engine light plane. "Of course it could have the fire power of a fully loaded B 52." He muttered.

"Always look on the bright side, Castle." Kate said quietly.

The strange aircraft circled the group twice, always staying well out of small arms range, although Kate had ordered everyone not to shoot at it. After circling twice, the ship shot off back the way it had been going.

"A scout, I think." Boutje said as they all stood and walked to each other.

"Which means someone knows we're here." Rick said, not happy about this.

"Someone was going to notice us sooner or later." Kate said. "But I'd feel a lot better if I knew who exactly it was that now knows about us."

"Nothing can be done about that." Irina said.

"We should keep moving." Chen snapped. For once everyone agreed with her.

As they moved down stream towards where they had been told the city was, larger and larger patches of road were appearing. Boutje stopped and held up his hand. "An intersection." He pointed to the right and left. The others joined him and saw that there was indeed another road crossing his one. Boutje looked through his binoculars towards the river. "I think I see several old bridge pilings over there, but no bridge. But coming to this road, there are wheel marks." Once they were pointed out to her, Kate could see faint marks in the road that might be wheel tracks.

"Can you tell how old they are?" She asked Boutje.

He knelt and stared at them from very close. "On Earth, in Namibia, I would suggest a week or so. Here, on a strange planet, I do not know."

They continued on. About an hour before sundown, Kate moved them off the road a few hundred yards to the far side of a small hill where they lit a fire and made their dinner. Once the sun was down, she got into the sleeping bag with Rick. He put his arms around her and pulled her close.

"Don't you think about anything but sex?" She teased.

"In fact, I do." He said softly. "I've been thinking about where we are and what we're doing. I'm not sure I like it."

"I'm way ahead of you." She whispered back. "I'm sure I don't like it. But what can we do? We're stuck on this planet."

"Yeah, but I want us to be prepared. I've been thinking about the people we've got with us. All heavily armed police, all more like para-military internal security troops, or real soldiers, than anything else."'

"And?" She asked.

"It's like the movie, _Predators_. These soldiers, gangsters, killers, are sent off to a planet to be hunted for sport. If I we're trying to solve a murder by an alien race, I'd get a bunch of first class police detectives, not who we have. We were given a resupply of ammo, but no finger print kits, no computers, no crime scene equipment, nothing a homicide detective would need."

Kate thought about that for a second. "I don't have an answer." After a bit, she added, "Maybe the hydrogen breathing old lady doesn't know enough about solving murders to get a good team together."

"Just keep your eyes open and be ready for anything."

Kate kissed her husband. "I am. Now take your hand off my boob so I can get some sleep. I'm not making love to you while a bunch of strangers listen in."

"When are you making love to me?"

"As soon as we can get some privacy. Then I'll make up for lost time."

"I'll hold you to that promise."

"You won't have to." She whispered.

When they awoke the next morning, they saw a small orange flag on the crest of the small hill between them and road. They found another box with more food, bottled water, fresh batteries for the radios and the night vision devices, and some more medicines for Amadeo. They headed off down the road again.

Shortly before lunch, Boutje signaled them to halt. "Cavalry coming." He called.

Kate thought quickly. "We don't want to start a fight. Form up by Boutje, keep your weapons slung and don't do anything unfriendly unless I tell you to."

Chen looked unhappy, which Kate decided was her default expression, but Amadeo and Fuad calmly placed themselves on either side of the Chinese woman and Irina got behind her.

All Rick could see was a blur in the distance. "Boutje, you said it was cavalry. Air cavalry, armored cavalry or horse cavalry?"

Boutje handed Rick his binoculars. "I would say horse cavalry, but I doubt those are horses they ride on."

Rick tried to make out the group coming to them. There were four legged animals and bipeds riding them, but they were not horses or men, he thought.

Whatever they were, they didn't expect trouble. They rode up to the seven humans and stopped. Their mounts were a cross between hump-less camels and sheep. Their legs were thicker and longer than Rick remembered camel's legs as being, and they were covered with long, curly, dirty white fur. Their heads were triangular and their teeth looked like carnivore's teeth, long and sharp.

The riders weren't human, although they seemed perfectly familiar with humans. To Rick, they looked like short, squat furry frogs. Their fur was a mottled green and brown which he thought made perfect natural camouflage. Their eyes were large and perfectly round, they lacked external noses, having a slit under the eyes which seemed to be their nose. They did have large, pointed ears. They were dressed in dull green clothing and all were armed.

"Greetings, strangers. Do you seek Alexandria the Farthest?" The lead rider said.

Kate spoke. "We were told there was a large city this way and we hoped to visit it."

"Your business?"

"We deal in lead, mister." Rick said.

Kate rolled her eyes, but the furry alien didn't seem upset. "Dealers in metal, are you? Always welcome in Alexandria the Farthest. Did you come over the mountains?" He gestured behind them.

"We did." Kate said.

"And you met some Cholattes?"

"We did."

"And they won't bother anyone else?" The leader said. His men laughed.

"They won't."

The leader turned in his saddle and pointed down the road behind them. "Less than a quarter of a sleep that way is a small village. There's a garrison there, so it's safe. You can get food, shelter and a boat to take you to the city."

"Thank you." Kate said, smiling.

"Have you seen any other Cholattes?"

"Only the four. And they won't bother anyone." Kate said.

"Then I will be on my way. May the gods watch over you."

"And over you and your troops." Kate quickly added.

They rode off, leaving the seven humans staring at them.

"I counted twenty three." Husseini said.

"Right." Boutje confirmed. "The leader had a submachine gun and a pistol. One man had some kind of a magazine fed light machine gun, like the old British Bren gun. All the rest had bolt action rifles, like the one we took from the Cholattes. A minority of the riflemen also had pistols. Revolvers, also like the one we took from the Cholattes."

Kate turned to Rick. "We deal in lead? What were you thinking?"

Rick smiled, unsuccessfully trying to defuse Kate's glare. "It sounded cool when Steve McQueen said it."

"Don't try to sound cool, got that?"

"What we have here is a failure to communicate."

"Do you remember what happened to Paul Newman in that movie?" Kate asked sharply.

Rick nodded and said nothing.

Kate turned to look at her team. "There's a town less than a quarter of a sleep that way. I for one would like to sleep indoors and have some fresh food. Let's go."

The rest of their journey was some two hours. They stood on the crest of a hill, looking down at a small village that straggled along the bank of the river. There was one muddy street in the town. On the side of the street closest to the river were businesses that depended on the river. Rick saw a boat yard with a half built boat. "Not a very big boat, but wide. It's built to carry cargo, not for speed, I bet. I'd guess it's a seventy footer, maybe a bit more."

The rest of the buildings appeared to be warehouses or small shops. "The shops are ship's chandlers, I'll bet." Rick said. "They sell goods needed by ship owners or captains."

The other side of the mud street was lined with rickety looking wooden buildings and tents. Animals like the ones the cavalry had ridden were on the one street, some pulling carts, and a few being ridden. There was one truck in town, at least they thought it might be a truck that drove towards the shipyard, billowing steam. As they watched, an open topped carriage passed them, headed for town. The driver was a grumpy looking human. The passengers were all young women, clad in rather diaphanous garments cut low enough to see most of their boobs. "La!" Called one. "We'll be on the _Poseidon's Dream_ when she sails to the city. Come and see us." The girls laughed and waved as they sped off. Fuad and Boutje smiled back. Rick and Amadeo didn't.

"It looks like a town out of a spaghetti western." Rick said.

"A what?" Irina asked.

"A western movie made in Italy. They were big in the sixties and seventies. Clint Eastwood got famous making them."

Amadeo nodded. "Clint Eastwood is a very famous Italian actor, Irina."

Rick tried his own glare on Amadeo, who just smiled. Irina was looking at Amadeo with a look of awe and happiness. Rick decided he'd best say nothing.

They walked down the hill and came to the edge of town. Sitting there on a stump was a young, human girl, perhaps seven or eight years old. Kate knelt in front of her. "Can you tell us where we can find a hot meal and someplace to sleep for the night?"

"The best place in town." Rick added.

"There's no place in town." The girl said very seriously.

"No one sells food or has a place we can sleep?" Kate asked.

The girl shook her head. "Not _in_ town."

"But there's a place outside of town?"

The girl nodded. "Areion's. You can see the smoke from the cooking fires from here. He's just outside the town."

"And that's the best place?" Castle asked.

"It's the only place." She said seriously.

"Then it's where we'll go."

They started to walk away, but the little girl jumped up and held out her hand.

"We have no funds." Kate said, feeling bad.

"Few people have gold." The girl said brightly. "Mostly we trade." She smiled at Husseini. "That's a very nice saw you have there."

The Jordanian smiled back. "No, it's a very nice saw you have." He handed it over and the girl took off running.

"She's running to tell everyone that a bunch of tourists who massively over-tip are in town. Prepare to be robbed blind." Rick said.

They walked through the town, noting that most of the inhabitants were human, with the furry frog people coming next. They saw several tall, slender bipeds covered with short light grey fur lounging about. They carried spears and on closer inspection, long knives much like the one taken from the dead Cholatte. They decided they were the people they had seen earlier at the lake.

"Does it look like they have gills?" Castle asked.

"I have no idea." Kate replied. Noticing that Rick had fallen behind to gawk at one of the grey people, she grabbed his hand and pulled him along. "You might be checking out someone's nubile daughter, you know."

"I'd never look at anyone but you." He protested.

"But does her daddy know that?"

Areion's was better than they had hoped. It looked vaguely like Spanish Colonial architecture, whitewashed walls, with a red tile roof. A large wooden double door was the only opening in the two story structure. Once inside, they saw that Areion's was arranged around a courtyard. Table and chairs were set around the edge of the courtyard and a small fountain played in the center. Most of the tables were occupied. Most of the customers were of the furry frog persuasion with humans constituting the rest. No other races were present. A tall, fair haired woman walked towards them. She was perhaps in the late twenties, slender and attractive, dressed in a long flower printed dress that showed off a rather remarkable cleavage.

"Greetings. Welcome to Areion's. I am Varina, wife to Areion. How may we serve you? Food? Drink? A bed for the night?"

Kate stepped forward. "We have no gold, but we have items for trade."

"Varina!" Said a voice. "You have no head for business. I'll deal with them."

Varina bowed. "Of course, husband. You are right, as always." Somehow Kate didn't think Varina felt Areion was always right, or even mostly right. She said nothing, however.

Areion was older than Varina, early forties Kate guessed. He was a big man, but what had probably once been muscle was turning to fat. He was dressed in a gold colored kimono but his feet were bare and hairy. He smelled of alcohol to Kate.

He looked over the seven carefully, then smiled. "Would you be interested in trading one of those interesting looking rifles for food and a place to rest?"

Kate shook her head. "They aren't on the table. We have other weapons if that's what interests you."

"The rifle. I'd wager you got it from a Cholatte." 

"He won't be coming looking for it." Kate smiled coldly.

Areion laughed. "How much ammunition do you have for it?"

Fuad promptly replied. "Fifty six rounds, plus ten I the rifle's magazine."

Areion nodded and appeared to think. "I could feed you for the night and give you one room for the rifle and the ammunition."

One of Areion's customers lurched to his feet. He was one of the furry frog people, and wore a uniform like the soldiers they'd met on the road. He staggered over to Areion. "Areion! You're a damned thief!" He bellowed.


	7. Chapter 7

The Magnificent Seven, Chapter Seven

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Have I mentioned that I don't own Castle? Rating: M Time: The future.

Areion turned to the soldier. "Skouros! You're drunk. This is not your affair."

The soldier halted in front of Areion. "I am as drunk as your cheap, sour, well watered and over-priced wine will get me." He smiled, showing large, blunt teeth. "And you're still a thief."

"Skouros! I don't want to throw you out. But…"

The three soldiers who had been sharing a table with Skouros rose and walked casually towards their friend. Kate noticed that one had brought a heavy wine bottle with him and was hefting it in his hand. Another table with three soldiers watched with interest, but the other customers seemed to be concentrating on their wine with rapt attention.

"Then don't throw me out. And don't act like a thief." He turned to the seven humans. "May I see the rifle?"

Kate nodded and Fuad hand it over. Skouros removed the magazine, and then the bolt. He squinted down the barrel, replaced the bolt and worked the action. He nodded. "It's in better shape than most of the weapons the Cholattes steal. You could get enough money for this rifle to live here for a week, each with your own room, and feast like lords all night long. "

"Skouros!" Cried Areion. "What are you doing?"

"Fisler the Merchant, a Tourbon like myself, will pay you well for this rifle. Indeed, if you walked through town with this, he's probably on his way here now. Don't sell it for less than two hundred and fifty gold pieces."

"Are you done, Skouros?" Areion cried.

Skouros turned to him. "No, I'm not. Is that a problem?" By this time, the other three soldiers were standing by Skouros and smiling nastily at the inn keeper. Skouros turned back to Kate. "May I see the pistol you got from the Cholattes?"

Skouros examined the pistol closely. "A good weapon. Not as good as the rifle, but good. Areion here will charge you two gold pieces each for a room for the night and a gold piece for dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow. You're headed for Alexandria the Farthest, I assume? After all, no one comes to this mud hole for any other reason."

Kate nodded. "Alexandria the Farthest is our destination."

"I'll pay you twenty five gold pieces for the pistol and its ammunition. Enough for you to spend the night here in comfort." Skouros glanced at Areion. "It's not a bad spot, in spite of Areion."

Kate looked at Rick and the rest of her team. No one seemed to object. "Deal."

Skouros handed over twenty five square gold pieces, and Kate handed over the weapon and ammo.

"May I see the grenade launcher?" Skouros asked. Kate had Amadeo hand it over and Skouros examined it. "It's in okay shape." The soldier commented. "But you have only rounds with lead slugs? No actual grenades?"

"No, just what you see." Kate answered.

"Too bad. The grenades are what makes these valuable. The factories make only a few grenades, never enough to keep up with demand. If Iskander had lived, it would be different, I suppose. But he didn't. Anyway, Fisler will buy this from you as well, but don't expect more than a hundred gold pieces for it. As for the other weapons, the two flintlock pistols and the blunderbuss, if Fisler will give you ten gold pieces for the lot, take it."

Skouros' eye went to Kate's M4. "Now those weapons interest me. Can I see your weapon…?" 

"Captain Kate Castle." She replied. She removed the magazine from her weapon and handed it over to Skouros. The other three soldiers looked over Skouros' shoulder with interest as he examined it. "This shows safe, fire and…What?" He asked.

"Safe, fire single shots, and three round bursts." Kate corrected him.

"An excellent weapon." Skouros said, handing it back. "A weapon fit for the Exarch's Guards. These bolt action rifles are good enough for the Third Peltast Regiment, but if we had these…" Skouros smiled, then frowned and changed the subject. "Were you a Guard officer in your home city?"

"No, but we have many fine weapons in my home city."

"Which is?"

Kate thought for a second. "I and my husband," She gestured to Rick, "are from New York, a city far from here. My companions are from elsewhere." 

"Noo Yawk?" Skouros said, looking at his friends who shrugged. "It must be far away. I'm from across the Scented Sea myself. You must be from across the Great Ocean for us not to have heard of your city."

Kate shrugged. "We are all from far away."

One of the soldiers spoke up. "You were right, Skouros. Fisler the Merchant is on his way here now."

Fisler, a tall well fed Tourbon dressed in long flowing, multi-colored robes, swept in to Areion's followed by a two others, a large Tourbon festooned with weapons who Kate took for a bodyguard and a small wizened human who looked like a clerk. "Where are the strangers with extra weapons? I, Fisler the Merchant, would speak with them."

Fuad whispered in Kate's ear. "Perhaps I should deal with this man." Before Kate could answer, Fuad stepped forward. He bowed slightly to Fisler. "I am Fuad al Husseini and I have the honor to represent Captain Kate Castle." Fuad bowed deeply to Kate. "Do you wish to purchase some weapons?" 

Fisler smiled. "Perhaps one of those interesting weapons you hold?"

Fuad returned the smile, "Our personal weapons are not for sale, but we have a fine rifle that might interest you."

"Perhaps." Fisler sniffed. "May I examine it?" Fisler looked the rifle over very carefully. "How much do you want for this?"

"A bargain at five hundred gold pieces." Fuad said calmly.

Fisler staggered back as if struck. "Five hundred gold pieces? Do you wish my eldest daughter as well?"

"If your eldest daughter is part of the deal, we'll need six hundred gold pieces."

Fisler sighed dramatically and put his hand to his chest. "I could perhaps pay one hundred gold pieces. It is an old rifle."

Fuad slapped his ear. "I must be hearing wrong. I could have sworn you offered a mere hundred gold pieces for this fine weapon."

And the bargaining was off. In the end, Fisler paid two hundred and sixty pieces of gold for the rifle and one hundred and twenty for the grenade launcher, although Fuad had to throw in the other weapons as well.

Kate decided that the money would be divided evenly between the seven of them. Even Chen agreed with this. "However, remember, we need enough money to get to this Alexandria the Farthest and to pay our way once we get there. Now, Rick and I will need one room, Amadeo…?"

Amadeo put his arm around Irina. "We will need only one room as well." Irina smiled happily when he said this.

Fuad and Boutje looked at each other. "We may as well bunk together. We're used to barracks life and it'll save us money." Fuad said.

Kate looked at Chen who looked back at her coldly. "I'll want a room of my own. As far from you as I can get. I don't wish to be kept awake by all the rutting."

Areion had disappeared, but Varina was standing quietly by a desk of some sort. Kate and Rick headed for her. "Too bad we're not eight. Chen might be a little more pleasant with some rutting."

"With our luck we'd end up with two unhappy campers on our hands. Chen just isn't obnoxious, she's not very good at this. The only gunfight we've been in, she did nothing of any use."

They were at the desk and Varina was smiling at them. "Your needs, Captain?"

"Four rooms, dinner for seven tonight, and breakfast for seven tomorrow."

Varina nodded, then leaned forward and sniffed the two. "I assume you'll wish to use the baths before you eat?"

"Baths?" Rick and Kate said together.

"We have six." Varina smiled. "Quite large enough for two people, I can assure you."

"All part of the deal?" Kate asked.

Varina looked slightly insulted. "Of course. Do you think we are barbarians?"

"Of course not." Rick said smoothly. "Never crossed our mind."

Varina smiled at Rick. "If you should need some assistance in the bath…"

"I'm sure I can take care of his every need." Kate said quickly.

"I'm sure you can." Varina said with a smile. "One thing. The _Poseidon's Dream_ will arrive tomorrow morning and leave for Alexandria the Farthest in the early afternoon. It will take five days to get to the city, six if there's a problem at the Narrows, and there always is. Captain Kontos will want to charge you fifteen gold pieces each for passage, food included."

Varina took a quick look around. "You can buy food in town, cheaper that way. You needn't buy it here. Areion is rather cheap. And if you show Captain Kontos your weapons and indicate your willingness to fight, you can probably bargain him down to seven or eight pieces."

"Fight? Castle asked.

"He'll have a half a dozen riflemen aboard, but with your weapons, there isn't a pirate on the river that'll attack you. Not successfully, that is."

"River pirates?" Rick said slowly.

"You have arrived here through the heart of Cholatte country. How fearsome can river pirates be to you?" Varina said confidently. "If you wish to bathe immediately, I can have the water boy begin heating the water now. All will be in readiness in half an hour."

Kate agreed and handed over the money, and received four keys in return. She distributed the keys to her team and then she and Rick went to their room. The room was rather large, some fifteen feet by fifteen, white plaster over rough stone and an open beam ceiling. The floor was rough wood, but mostly covered with thick carpets. Furnishings were a large bed, bigger than a king sized bed back home, an armoire for their clothes and gear, and a large clay pot with a sponge beside it.

"We have an indoor bathroom." Rick said, with a smile.

"Where?" Kate said, looking around. "In the closet?"

"That's a chamber pot, Honey. They even give you a sponge to wipe off with."

"A sponge that's been used by thousands of travelers?" Kate shuddered. "Tell me we have toilet paper left from the MREs."

Rick sat on the bed. "We do, Mrs. Castle." He bounced up and down a few times. "Nice bed. Much better than the sleeping bags. Come see."

Kate sat next to him and then began taking off her boots, then her thick socks. "Oh!" She moaned, rubbing her bare feet. "That feels so good."

"Lie down, Honey, Let me give you a foot massage."

Kate quickly complied and Rick began massaging her feet. "I love you so much. And I love you even more when you do this for me." She said quietly.

"I only do this so I can massage other parts for you." He said teasingly.

"There'll be lots of massaging of the parts, I promise you."

They were interrupted by a knock at their door. Rick answered the door to find a short, powerfully teenaged boy standing there. "Your bath is ready, lord and lady. It's number one. All the way at the end of the hall."

Kate was off the bed and headed for the door before the boy had moved to the next room.

"Are you going there fully dressed and carrying your Glocks?" Rick asked.

"Do you think I'm walking to the bath room naked or going anyplace on this planet unarmed?"

Before Rick could answer, Amadeo and Irina walked by headed for the baths. Amadeo wore only his under shorts while Irina wore baggy cotton panties and a very un-sexy bra. Out of her baggy uniform, she was both more slender and more pulchritudinous than either Rick or Kate had thought.

As Rick laughed, Kate headed for the baths, calling back over her shoulder, "I have to set an example." He was quick to follow his wife.

Once inside the bath, Rick whistled. "Now that's a bath and a half." And indeed it was. Steam rose from the bath which was a good eight feet long by some four feet wide, made from smooth concrete and set into the ground so the lip of the tub was even with the floor. At one end were three bottles which they found contained wine, cold water and liquid soap. Kate began to strip at once, with Rick quickly following suit. Kate finished undressing first and slid into the water. "Oh! This is so good. Hurry up, Rick."

Once in, Rick found that the tub varied in depth. At one end, the water came only up to Kate's belly button and at the other end, it came almost up to her neck. She moved to the deep end and quickly ducked her head under water.

Rick grabbed the bottle of soap. "Come here, Honey. Let me soap you up." Kate move to him, smiling widely. He began at her neck and slowly rubbed the soap on her moving downwards. He spent a great deal of time on her boobs, then moved to her flat stomach.

"Rick, you need to wash between my legs. I know I'm just awfully dirty there."

"You are?" he said teasingly. "How dirty are you?"

"Very, very dirty, lover. Now clean me up."

Rick poured soap over his hand and began to wash Kate as thoroughly as he could. Cleaning her inside and out. Kate reached over and grabbed the soap container, pouring it onto her hand. She reached between Rick's legs and began soaping his erection. "I think I'm real dirty down there, too, Honey. "He whispered in her ear. Kate pushed him back against the lip of the tub. "Pull me up and into you, Rick. I need you, lover. I really need you." Rick held her tightly and lifted her up, then she slid down and engulfed him. He helped her move gently up and down for what seemed like forever until she moaned in his ear. "I'm coming. Rick, I love you so much."

"Me, too. I love you Kate."

He lowered her gently into the water and held her close. "That's way too long for us to go without sex." He said.

"Way too long. This damned boat had better have cabins for us."

"And big beds."

They held each other until Kate spoke. "The water is getting cold. We should go have dinner."

"Good thinking."

They ate quickly and hour later, they lay in each other's arms, happy and content. "They're from Greece." Rick said.

"Greece?" Kate was not concentrating on anything but the lovemaking they had just finished. "How do you know?"

"Alexandria Eschate." Rick said smugly.

"Pardon?"

"Alexandria Eschate. It means Alexandria the Farthest. When Alexander the Great conquered the known world twenty three hundred years ago, he set up cities called Alexandria all over his new empire. The one in Egypt is the only one where the name stuck own to our time. But Alexandria the Farthest on Earth was in Central Asia and about as far from Greece as Alexander ever got. I'd say when humans got here, they decided to use a familiar name that really was Alexandria the Farthest."

"Also, Exarch is Greek word that translates as viceroy or governor. Skouros belongs to a regiment of peltasts, which is a Classical Greek word for the light infantry of the day. And Poseidon, as in the ship we're going on tomorrow, _Poseidon's Dream, _was the Greek god of the sea. All the humans here may not be descendants of Greeks, but their culture is what we're seeing."

Kate thought for a moment. "And the local language never changed? There were no new religions? Nothing changed?"

Rick shrugged. "I guess not. Maybe the Ancients who brought everyone here did it. I don't know."

Both Rick and Kate fell asleep wondering about the Greeks on this planet.

When Rick woke up the next morning, he needed to use the chamber pot and stumbled out of bed. "Roosters crowing?" He mumbled. "Chickens cackling? Cows mooing? We aren't in Manhattan any more, Toto." He took a step and his toe slammed into something. "Ouch!"

Kate sat up at once, grabbing her Glock. "Something wrong?"

"I stubbed my toe on a box on the floor. I think our hydrogen breathing friends are sending us more stuff."

Kate slipped out of bed and they both examined the box. "More ammo." Rick said. "And more MREs." Kate added. "And a laptop and a couple of cameras."

"Not cameras." The laptop corrected Kate. "The one with blue trim is a camera. The one with red trim will pick up fingerprints and DNA evidence. I will teach you how to use them. It is easy."

"You talk." Rick said.

"Obviously." Was the only reply.

There was a knock on the door. "Just a second." Rick called. "Let us get dressed." They pulled on their underwear, and then pants and tee shirts. Kate made sure she had her Glock, then opened the door. It was Amadeo and Irina.

"We got more supplies." Amadeo said excitedly. Irina had her arms around Amadeo and nodded enthusiastically. "We did." She added.

"Yeah, us too," Rick said. "More food, more ammo and a laptop and crime solving kit. Someone up there likes us."

"I got more medicines and a small laptop." Amadeo said. "I didn't recognize any of the medicines, but when I looked at the laptop, I have medicines for the other races here and information about their diseases and cures. The laptop mentions the Tourbon, like those soldiers. A race called Stwee, which are the grey people who live in water and something called Vorlags, who look like wolves."

Just then, Husseini stuck his head out of his room. "You received more supplies?" He asked.

Kate nodded. "Yes. Did you?"

Husseini and Boutje walked out, fully dressed. "Fuad got an M 203 grenade launcher and grenades to mount under his M 16. We'll probably have to split them up to carry them all. We also got food and more ammo."

Rick looked down the hall in the direction of Chen's room. "I wonder what Chen got."

"We should go see, babe."

The six walked to Chen's door and stopped. Kate checked the door. It was unlocked. She opened the door and looked in.

"Oh, crap!" Rick said.


	8. Chapter 8

The Magnificent Seven, Chapter Eight

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I still do not own all of the things I didn't own before. Rating: M Time: the future.

"Crap!" Kate echoed her husband. They stood there looking at the mess that was Chen's room. The centerpiece was Chen herself, who appeared to be sprawled nude on her bed. It was hard to tell if she was nude because the muscular bath boy, who definitely was nude, was sprawled on top of her. But it sure looked like she was nude. Several wine bottles littered the floor. The smell of booze and sex was everywhere.

"I hope she didn't hear any of the rutting." Castle said as innocently as he could manage.

Kate raised an eyebrow at him. "Irina, you're with me. We have to get this straightened out and get Chen ready to go." She turned to the rest of the men. "You go and finish getting dressed or whatever, and go have breakfast. The three of us will join you later."

Castle was very careful not to say or do anything and left quietly. The other men smiled and joked about Chen's little romance. Castle had just made it back to his room when he heard Kate scream, "GET UP!" This was followed by an indistinct, but seemingly unhappy, conversation.

Castle was dawdling through breakfast, sharing a table with Amadeo, when Kate and Irina finally arrived. Chen staggered into the courtyard a few seconds later and collapsed onto a chair.

"There's always one screw up." Kate said angrily.

"You'll handle it." Rick said, smiling encouragingly at her.

"I handled the last screw up I was handed."

"Can we look forward to Chen becoming our partner, then?" Rick asked innocently.

"No." Kate said frostily, and called the waitress over to order breakfast.

When they were done with their meal, Kate called the team together and told them about Rick's theory that the planet's civilization was descended from ancient Greece. No one seemed to know enough about the subject to comment.

"Okay, "She said, "let's load up all of our stuff. We'll probably need to lug the boxes our recent delivery of supplies came in down to the _Poseidon's Dream. _It's too much to try to stuff in our packs and weighs too much. Oh, I checked and Chen got a box last night as well. Just ammo, food and some batteries. She can haul her damned box all by herself for all I care."

As it happened, Fuad and Hendrik ended up helping Chen with her box of supplies, but they made it to the dock where the _Poseidon's Dream_ had arrived.

The _Poseidon's Dream_ was something out of Mark Twain. A three hundred foot long, dazzlingly white stern wheel steamer with three decks. The first deck seemed devoted to cargo, and the upper two decks to passengers. Atop the ship was a small square pilot house.

Castle whistled appreciatively. "At least we'll be going in style."

Kate found a large, armed Tourbon, at the gangplank and asked how they arranged passage.

"See the captain." Was the reply, along with a gesture towards the pilot house.

Captain Kontos was not at all what Rick had expected. Kontos was a human who was nearly as broad as he was tall and was barefoot. He was dressed in tattered pants held up by a dirty piece of rope, and a ragged short sleeved shirt that left a good portion of his belly exposed. His hair hadn't seen a comb in days and his face hadn't seen a razor in at least as long.

"What do you want?" He growled.

"Passage for the seven of us to Alexandria the Farthest." Kate said.

"Fifteen gold pieces per cabin. Pay the purser." Kontos gestured with his shoulder to another human standing behind him.

"We understand things could get dangerous. We're armed. We're very well armed. You could use our services in lieu of payment."

Kontos laughed. "And if we get attacked you'd damned well better fight back or you'll end up with your throats cut. Why should I pay you?"

Husseini stepped forward, again. "Allow me to introduce myself, Fuad al Husseini. I have the honor to represent Captain Kate Castle, the leader of our band. I should point out to you that we do not need to fight for your ship. We just need to cut a path to a lifeboat and keep the pirates away from us while we get away. Given a choice between taking on seven well-armed soldiers, or looting your ship, which do you think the pirates will choose?"

The captain laughed. "Do you know anything about the river pirates? You're only seven. They number in the hundreds. And they'll want your weapons more than any trinkets my passengers may have."

"We may be only seven, but we have hundreds of bullets. I'm sure we can discourage any river pirates."

"Perhaps, but I already have armed guards. And they're very good. And well-armed."

"I understand you have a half a dozen riflemen aboard. Are they as well armed as we are?" Husseini countered.

"Hmm. Let me see what weapons you have."

Eventually, they got four cabins on the top deck, which were the first class cabins, for eight gold pieces per cabin. Captain Kontos wanted them as near to the pilot house and himself as they could get.

Rick and Kate went to check out their cabin. "Not bad. "Rick said. "The bed isn't as big as the one in the inn, but we'll have plenty of room." He checked the bathroom. "And we have a shower. It's be awfully cozy, but we can both fit in there."

Before Kate could answer, there was a knock at their door. When they opened the door, Amadeo and Irina were standing there with a local. A human. "This fellow's name is Callan." Amadeo said. "He's the head of the guards on this ship. He'd like a word with you."

Rick and Kate stepped out of the cabin and saw that Callan had brought his other five riflemen with him: Three humans, and two Tourbons. Callan carried an automatic rifle, while his men carried bolt action rifles as well as pistols. They were well supplied with ammunition, slung in bandoliers around their shoulders. Callan nodded to Kate and held out his hand. Callan himself was a tall, muscular sort with reddish blonde hair and a drooping mustache. "I'm Callan. Me and my boys provide the guard services for the _Poseidon's Dream_. I understand from Kontos that you'll be joining us this trip."

Kate nodded. "Yes. We're going to Alexandria the Farthest and have agreed to defend the ship if necessary. This way we get to travel more cheaply. Is that a problem?" Kate saw that Fuad and Hendrick had come out of their cabin to see what was going on. Chen was nowhere to be seen.

"In that case, no problem at all. Glad to have more shooters aboard. And there will be problems. The river pirates got well and truly hammered when Iskander was alive, but now that he's dead. Well, you know how things are."

"Actually, we don't. "Rick said quickly. "We just got here. We don't know what's happening."

Callan shrugged and then smiled. "It's a simple story. Iskander the Engineer was a miracle worker. Turned long dead machines into functional machines again. Got our economy going like nothing we've seen in a couple of centuries. Through diplomacy and force, mostly force, he changed Alexandria the Farthest from just another city-state into a country. A country twenty times the size of what Alexandria the Farthest was originally. Then, worse luck, he died. He could have united the whole continent and instead of and endless number of squabbling city states we'd have…Ah, to hell with it. Who knows what we'd have had."

"Things are bad?" Rick asked.

"They're about to get bad." Callan admitted. "Iskander's three most powerful generals now hang around the court, trying to replace him. Menander, Antipater and old Antigonus One Eye all try to get put in charge. Iskander's mother, Olympia keeps them divided, but we need a strong hand at the helm so to speak. Iskander's older brother, Phillip, is, well, the boy isn't all there. Arsinoe, his younger sister, we'll she's a woman and hardly old enough to wed, although that won't stop any of the generals. Last is Iskander's son. Iskander II. A baby. Can hardly walk yet. He's the legitimate heir, but will need a guardian. And I suspect that whoever gets to be his guardian will end up being the real power. Once one of them gets power, everyone else…" He made a gesture like the slitting of the throat.

Rick was fascinated by the story and had many, many questions to ask. He opened his mouth with the first question, but was cut off by one of Callan's men.

"By the gods!" He said, looking down at the dock. "It's Sori and her girls! Is she going to be on this run?"

Everyone went to the rail and looked down. Two dozen carriages were pulling up to the _Poseidon's Dream_. Each one was carrying a half a dozen or so young women. Young, attractive women wearing rather revealing clothing. Kate had a very good idea what they were.

"Who are they?" Rick asked.

Callan laughed. "You are new if you've never heard of Sori. She runs the best brothel in all of Alexandria the Farthest, which means the best there is. She has an estate just to the south of here. She likes to come out once or twice a year and give the rural nobility a look at what the big city has to offer. And maybe pick up a pretty peasant girl if she can."

The girls were pouring out of their carriages and running onto the ship, laughing and screaming as they did. An occasional boob would fall out of their brief dresses, or their skirts would rise above their waists, showing that they wore no underwear. They obviously didn't care.

"Where will they be staying?" One of Callan's men asked hungrily.

"Where?" Callan said with a laugh. "Sori always goes first class, you scut. She and the girls will be on the top deck."

That pleased neither Kate nor Irina.

"You will excuse us, Captain." Callan said as he turned away and headed away with his men. The Tourbos went as well, although why they should be interested, Kate had no idea. All of the hookers seemed to be human.

Fuad and Hendrik looked at each other. "Captain, we'll…"Fuad began.

"I know." Kate said. "Just try to remember we need our money for the city."

"Captain, we'll be staying up here for now." Hendrik said politely. Fuad nodded.

Kate grinned. "Sorry."

In minutes the women started arriving on the top deck. They ran to their cabins, laughing and chattering. As soon as one group would go into their cabin, they would run out again and run into someone else's cabin, laughing all the way.

A tall, very well built blonde with bright green eyes and very little on walked up to Kate. "My name is Cynane. I'm Sori's assistant and in charge of the girls on this deck. Sori doesn't like to bother with the day to day operations, you'll understand. I understand your…group is assisting in our protection for this voyage?"

"We are." Kate aid as politely as she could.

"You seem very well armed. I don't believe I've ever seen weapons quite like yours before." Cynane said curiously. "They look like something the Companions might carry. In your own city, you were…?"

"Very well armed." Rick said.

"We have four riflemen with us." Cynane said, turning her attention to Rick. "As well armed as Callan and his men, but not as well armed as you. Since you're at the front of the ship, I've put our people at the stern." She smiled at Rick. "And you are…"

Before Kate could speak, he put his arm around her. "Spoken for."

"He's my husband." Kate added.

Cynane nodded. "Husbands are good." She said, then bowed slightly and walked off, her hips swaying rhythmically.

The team dispersed back to their cabins. "How long until we sail?" Kate asked Rick.

"Maybe an hour, maybe more. They're loading the cargo now. It looks like it's slow going. Why?"

"I need to buy something in town." She said, putting on her vest and picking up her carbine.

Rick started to do the same, but she stopped him. "It's okay. I'll be back in plenty of time. You don't need to come with me."

Rick started to say something, but decided against it. "Okay. But I'll be standing outside. If they look like they're ready to leave and you aren't back, I'm getting off."

"Don't worry. I'll be back." She kissed him and left.

Rick watched his wife get off the ship and head for town. He watched her until she disappeared into the little river side town. He stood by the rail of the ship where he could see both the town and the stevedores loading the cargo below him. He thought of something and dashed back into the cabin, coming back out with Kate's binoculars. He watched the town's streets and looked down at the cargo being unloaded. He was happy when he saw a sudden flash of tiger stripe camouflage heading his way, which quickly resolved into his wife. He watched her with the binoculars all the way to the gangplank and then waited for her to come to the cabin.

"Hey! Did you get what you went for?"

She gave him a warm smile. "I did."

"What is it?"

She shook her head, still smiling. "Not yet. You'll find out about it later."

"How much later?" He asked, starting to sound just slightly whiney.

"You'll find out."

They were interrupted by one of the ship's officers. "Captain Castle? Captain Kontos would like for your team to come to dinner tonight in two groups, one for the early dinner and the other for the late dinner. The times are posted in your cabin. He would also like you to carry your weapons. The passengers will be happy to see the firepower we've gotten to protect them."

"Please tell the captain, I'll be happy to oblige him." The officer smiled and walked off.

"According to the schedule in our cabin, the first dinner will be in about an hour. We should start getting ready." Rick said, gesturing to their cabin.

"I think I need a shower." Kate replied.

"Correction. _We_ need a shower."

"So we do." She held out her hand and led him into the cabin. Once inside, they quickly stripped, turned the hot water on and got in the shower."

"This is a tight fit." Kate said.

"That's my line." Rick said, grinning.

"So it is. So it is." Kate kissed him, then grabbed the soap and began trying to soap herself.

"I think it'll work better if we wash each other off." Rick began to soap her shoulders, then worked own to her boobs, making sure they were washed thoroughly, then to her flat stomach. As his hands moved to her pubic hair, he leaned against her, feeling her stiff nipples against his chest. "The shower's too small. I don't think I can go any lower than this." He whispered in her ear.

"I don't think you have to." She whispered back.

Eventually, they were clean and got out of the shower. Kate pushed him against the wall. "Put your feet out and brace yourself against the wall."

He saw what she wanted and did so, lifting her up. She lowered herself down onto him and began moving up and down until they both climaxed.

"I'm going to have to clean myself up again." She teased.

"Me too. Another shower?"

She shook her head. "No. I have to get my things and make myself beautiful." She stepped out of the bathroom and grabbed her backpack, pushing him out as she ducked back inside.

Rick opened his back pack and pulled out clean socks, underwear and his spare cammie shirt and pants. He dressed as carefully as he could and had just finished when Kate stepped out.

"Wow! You are gorgeous."

"Why thank you." She smiled broadly.

"Not that you aren't always gorgeous, you know."

Kat had changed her hair style from the ponytail she had worn since they got to this planet to allowing her hair to flow loose around her face in soft curls. She had used her makeup lightly, but quite effectively. Her camouflage shirt was open to just below her breasts, showing her cleavage since she wore neither the sports bra she had woken up with nor her olive drab tee shirt.

"So, you think I'm a wow?" She asked.

"Several wows! A multitude of wows. A plethora of wows. An infinity of wows."

She turned around like a model to show off her ensemble. "You can't see my legs, and the pants are too baggy to see my ass, which are my best features, though."

He kissed the top of her head. "No. Your best feature is everything, Mrs. Castle. Everything."

"Thank you, Mr. Castle. Will you take me to dinner?"

He nodded, offered her his arm, then had to remove it to pick up their weapons.

The Castle's knocked on Amadeo and Irina's cabin door. There was some muffled laughter from inside, then Amadeo stuck his head out from around the partially opened door. "We'll be just a few more minutes." They could see he was shirtless and guessed he and Irina had little or nothing on.

Rick and Kate nodded, but could barely suppress their laughter when the door closed. It took nearly ten minutes for the two to open their door again. Amadeo was dressed in clean cammies. Irina had found a tee shirt somewhere that was very tight. Her nipples poked the material of the tee, showing she wasn't wearing a bra. Amadeo took her hand and the three headed for the ship's dining room.

Arriving just as the first shift of the dining room was about to close, the four made quite a stir, mostly due to their weapons. Kate an Irina were certainly as attractive as any women there, but at least half the diners were Sori's girls and they were dressed even more provocatively than they had been when coming aboard.

As they walked to their table, Cynane reached out and put her arm on Kate's, stopping her momentarily. "You will have no problems with your husband, I am sure, Captain Castle."

Kate smiled. "I never do."

Dinner was enjoyable and both Kate and Irina felt that they got at least as many admiring glances from the men as the other ladies. They certainly got all of the admiring glances that Rick and Amadeo had. As they left the dining room, they saw Fuad, Hendrik and Chen headed in. The two couples smiled at their companions and the two men smiled back. Chen pretended not to see them.

Once at their cabins, Kate muttered to Rick. "I hope having two armed men escorting Chen keeps the men away. I do _not_ need that woman trying to screw everyone on this ship because she's unhappy."

Rick laughed, "Given her competition, I don't think she has a chance."

Once they had closed the door behind them Kate pushed Rick towards the bathroom. "You go first and get ready for bed. I'll go next."

"The surprise?" Rick said, waggling his eyebrows.

"Maybe." She smiled at him.

Rick hurried through his nightly routine and hopped in bed while Kate went into the bathroom. He sat there in bed wondering what the surprise was. Or if he'd find out what the surprise was tonight. Maybe the surprise was something Kate had gotten for herself. Or for one of her team. Possibly for the whole team? What could it be? He was so busy worrying that he missed seeing Kate walk out until she was standing in front of him. "Wow! Entirely too weak a word, but wow!"

Kate was wearing a diaphanous pale pink silk shortie night gown and nothing else. You could easily see that she had nothing else on. "Do you like the surprise?" She asked softly.

"If the surprise is you, I love it. And you."

"The nightgown, silly." She laughed. "The surprise is the nightgown."

"No, the surprise is that your love me. I am forever constantly amazed that I am so lucky to have you."

"I think I am going to have to be very nice to you for that remark, Mr. Castle."

"And I will be very nice to you, Mrs. Castle."

And they were.

They woke up the next morning tangled up in each other and in the sheets. Kate was the first one to notice that the ship wasn't moving. "Rick! Get up. The ship isn't moving. According to the schedule, we should be moving. Something's wrong."


	9. Chapter 9

The Magnificent Seven, Chapter Nine

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Did I mention I don't own Kurosawa as well as Castle? Rating: M Time: The future.

Rick and Kate jumped out of bed and dressed in record time. They opened the door carefully, hoping that they wouldn't find the ship full of armed Cholattes. However, the deck was empty.

Kate stepped out onto the deck and looked up at the pilot house. "Captain Kontos?"

He stuck his head out of the pilot house window. "What?"

"Is there something wrong?"

"Not yet." Was the unhelpful reply.

"We'll come up there." Rick said, speaking before Kate could tee off on the captain.

Arriving at the pilot house, they found Callan already there. "What's happening?" Kate asked.

"Problem." Callan said.

"No kidding." Rick said sarcastically. "Care to be more specific?"

Callan nodded. "We're about to the Great Lake. One really big lake." He showed them a map spread out on a chart table. It did show a large lake. "It's about a hundred and ten miles long and between ten and fifteen miles across. The tribes who live by the lake, mostly human or Tourbon, like to raid each other or attack ships on the lake. If they have to, they'll fish. But they'd rather fight. Iskander led an army around the lake six years back and taught them what fighting's all about. But Iskander's gone."

"So the natives are restless?" Rick asked.

"Worse than that." Captain Kontos said. "Ferrek the Grim, a Tourbon warlord, is here. He used to be up north on the Steppe of Bones with his army. But the steppe clans finally got together and chased him away. He fought his way through the Shining Mountains, "Kontos gestured to a mountain range on the map that was north of them, "and arrived at the Great Lake with his army about two months ago."

"How big is his army?" Kate asked, now worried.

"Twelve hundred, fifteen hundred men. Mostly Tourbon, but with a lot of humans and, they say, even some tame Cholattes. Everyone thought he'd end up fighting the lake tribes, but he's convinced some of stronger tribes to ally with him instead. He's got all of those lake's tribe's ships and he's hammering any of the tribes that won't join him and attacking traffic."

"So we're stuck here?" Rick asked.

"No." Kontos replied. "The sailing ships and oared vessels will stay here, but steamships like ours will go on once our naval escort gets here. The lake's tribe's ships are all sail or oar powered. We can outrun them easily."

Callan shook his head. "They be in everything from canoes to sailing ships our size. They'll have hundreds of boats and ships. We can plow through them, but we'll have a fight on our hands."

"That's what _Athena's Pride_ is for. We'll form a convoy with the other powered ships and she'll fight the pirates. We'll just have to finish off the wounded and cripples." Kontos said.

"Maybe." Callan muttered.

"How many ships do we have in this convoy?" Kate asked.

Kontos gestured out the window to the starboard where four ships were anchored. "There's the _Bacchanal_, a sternwheeler like us, and not much smaller than we are, and the _Ajax_ and the_ Hector_ are side wheelers. About as long as we are, but they have a narrower hull and are faster. Lastly, there's the _Proteus_. She has a diesel engine which drives a propeller. But, she's a damned cargo ship. Big and carries a lot of cargo, but slow."

"All of them have riflemen aboard and they'll be arming their crews, just like we are." Callan added.

Callan, Rick and Kate left the pilot house and went down a deck. Kate stopped Callan. "Kontos thinks this will be easy. What do you think?"

"That we'll earn our pay on this voyage."

"Where should we put our people?" Kate asked.

"I'm putting my boys on the lower deck. Mostly protecting the engine room. If they board us and take the engine room, we're all dead. Kontos has handed out weapons to the rest of his crew. They'll be on the lower deck, too. However, the toughest ones are the engine room gang. The rest are cooks, dishwashers, waiters and such. Some of them can fight, but we'll need to keep the damned pirates off the ship." Callan looked at Kate and Castel, who had now been joined by the rest of their team. "You should stay up here. You'll have a clear field of fire down onto them from here. I hear there are some passengers who'll be fighting as well. Keep them up here where you can keep an eye on them. I don't know how much use they'll be."

Kate nodded grimly and Callan left. Kate turned and looked at her team. "Amadeo, Irina and Boutje, take the other side of the ship. Rick and I, and Fuad and Chen will take this side. Keep to the front of the ship since Sori's riflemen are at the stern. But keep an eye out back there. I don't know how good some glorified brothel bouncers will be."

"Quite good, actually. Sori pays for and gets the best."

Kate turned around to see Cynane, a group of women and two men approaching them. All were armed. Most had bolt action rifles, but Cynane had an automatic rifle. Kate wasn't sure what kind of weapons the two men had. But they were big. Cynane smiled. "Sori has provided weapons to those of her girls who can fight." She laughed at Kate's grimace. "Oh, don't worry, Captain Castle, my father ran cattle on the plains of Tarquin before the drink got to him and he sold me. I grew up with a rifle in my hand."

"Sori's people are slaves?" Castle asked, somewhat shocked.

"Not at all. We're all free women and do this…Well, for many reasons. But all of these women can fight. The men are Tobos and Arlef. They hunt damnthings up in the Elysian Mountains. That should tell you that they can fight and shoot."

Kate and Rick looked over the two men. Both were stocky and heavily bearded, dressed in rough buckskin pants and jackets, heavy boots and homespun shirts. Their rifles appeared to be about .50 caliber and they both had a pair of large bore pistols in their belts. They nodded to Kate but said nothing.

"I have seven women with me, so I suggest I have half on this side and half on the other. Since you're on this side, I'll take the other side. Tobo and Arlef are used to working together and their probably the best long range shooters on the ship. I suggest they go in the bow so they can move and shoot to either side, as needed." Kate nodded and Cynane turned to a well-endowed redhead. "Penelope, why don't you stay here with Captain Castle and her husband. Distribute the rest of the girls down the side of the ship with Castle's people."

Penelope nodded and did as she was told, then came back to Kate and Rick. "Don't worry about me." She said grimly. "My father was a sergeant in the Leukaspides regiment. He got killed when I was young, so my mother got married again and again as her husbands died. Then I started to develop and men got…interested. I left the regiment and ended up with Sori, but I know how to handle a rifle."

Kate saw a large number of crewmen coming towards them, carrying some kind of heavy panels. "What's that?"

"Steel panels. That'll give us something to take cover behind when the shooting starts."

"How long will that be?" Rick asked.

Penelope shrugged. "Depends on when the Navy gets here."

The _Athena's Pride_ arrived just as dusk was falling, meaning that the convoy wouldn't leave until the morning. Captain Kontos came down from the pilot house and described their escort to Beckett and Penelope's teams. "She's about our length, 300 feet and displaces some 1400 tons. She'll do 20 knots or so, a lot faster than any of us merchant ships. She has a 4.1 inch gun fore and aft, with four pairs of 47mm guns along the centerline. There are a dozen or so 23mm single guns on her and they'll be mounting light machine guns and issuing her crew with rifles and submachine guns. We'll blow right through those damned pirates."

Kontos laughed and went back to his pilot house.

"I'd be a lot happier if there were more warships." Penelope growled.

Once night fell, Kate and Penelope set up a schedule of watches and sent the first of their people off for dinner. Later that night, Rick and Kate snuggled together in their cabin. "One things for sure, no matter what happens, I'm not leaving your side."

"Rick, I may need to have you…"

"No!" He said determinedly. "I'm not leaving your side."

She started to glare at him, but then smiled. "I love you, Mr. Castle."

"I love you, too, Captain Castle."

They woke up before dawn and walked the length of the third deck of the ship making sure everything was in readiness. Then they decided to check the other decks. When they got back to their cabin, they found the rest of their team waiting for them. "Get breakfast and then try to get some sleep. I've set up a schedule for watches and Rick and I are first. Maybe we'll be lucky and nothing will happen."

They weren't lucky.

"Oh crap!" Kate muttered. She had been looking through her binoculars since the convoy had started.

"What is it?" Rick asked.

"The pirates. They have a fleet that stretches all the way across the lake. We'll have to go right through them."

"Couldn't we go around them? It looks like there's plenty of room between the ships at the end of the fleet and the shore."

Penelope joined them. "The water there is too shallow. We might make it and the _Bacchanal_ might, too. But not the rest of the ships. And that includes _Athena's Pride_."

As the ships got closer to the pirates, Tobo or Arlef, Kate wasn't sure which was which took out a telescope and then began swearing.

"What is it?"

"The ships up there are chained together. The _Athena's Pride_ is going to have to blast our way through."

"That isn't our only problem." Penelope muttered, pointing astern. "There are boats putting out from shore behind us. We're surrounded."

Rick looked at the boats ahead of and behind them. "That's a lot of boats."

Penelope spat over the side. "All of the damned lake tribes must have joined Ferrek."

_Athena's Pride_ had increase her speed, heading towards the fleet ahead with a bone in her teeth. She opened fire with her forward main gun. The first round hit a hundred yards ahead of the fleet and between the two largest ships. The second round hit a mast, bring in down.

"Shoot for the damned hull!" Penelope screamed, uselessly. "Sink the bastard."

The ship took several more hits and began to settle in the water, but then stopped.

"Damn!" Rick muttered. "The chains are holding that ship up. Keeping it from sinking. All it's doing is pulling the other ships closer to it."

_Athena's Pride_ changed tactics. The ship turned hard to port and went down the line of anchored ships blasting away at a dozen ships or more, then turned and ran back, targeting the same dozen ships. They could clearly see pieces of the ships being blown off and fires started to rage on some. Rick noticed some crewmen jumping into the water.

Penelope looked behind them. "We'd better get going and damned fast. We've got hundreds of boats and canoes coming up behind us. And they're getting too damned close for my liking."

Rick checked. Hundreds of boats and canoes seemed an understatement. The surface of the lake was covered with them. "Shit!" He muttered.

The _Athena's Pride_ changed tactics again. This time the warship concentrated her fire on the first ship she had shot at, the big pirate vessel that was only being kept from sinking by the chains holding it to the line of ships on either side of it. The concentrated fire finally blew the pirate ship to pieces and there was a small gap in the line. While the _Athena's Pride_ concentrated her fire on the ships that had been on either side of the now sunken pirate ship, widening the breach, the merchant ships headed for the opening and safety. _Poseidon's Dream _was third in line behind the two side wheelers.

"Look!" Someone cried. "Behind the ships!"

Behind the line of chained together pirate ships were hundreds more boats and canoes, filled with fighting men, ready to storm onto the merchant ships.

Rick nervously checked his carbine and made sure his ammo magazines were loose in the pockets of his vest. As they passed the line of pirate ships, he noticed something. "Hey! The big ships have cannons! They look like muzzle loader but they could sure knock a hole in us. Why aren't they firing?"

Penelope laughed. "You must not have pirates in you city. Fire on us with cannon? Why that might sink us. And the last thing the pirates want is to sink a valuable ship, it's even more valuable cargo and prospective slaves."

"I really have to do more research on pirates." He replied.

"Castle. We're closing in on the boats." Kate was right. Just behind the ships were the boats, now all crowded along the gap they were rushing through.

Suddenly, they were among the boats. A canoe with a dozen humans in it, came along side and the crew began to jump onto _Poseidon's Dream._ Castle flicked the safety to semi-automatic, got a sight picture on a large man with a rifle in the back of the canoe and shot him. He moved his shots forward until the canoe was empty, then he took aim at a boat with a dozen or more oarsmen and fifty men or so that had hooked onto them with a grappling hook. Castle fired until the magazine was empty, dropped the old magazine, slapped a new one in, and resumed firing. He could see that the men from the boat were getting onto the lower deck.

A non-human hand grasped the rail between Castle and Kate. A Cholatte's head popped up and looked over at Kate. He levered himself up, showing a long sword in his other hand. He swung his sword back. Castle could see that Kate was too engrossed in her own fight to notice the Cholatte. He swung his carbine around and found it blocked by the Cholatte's wrist. With no other option, he fired into the being's wrist. A round that would have blown a human's hand off, merely punctured the wrist, but the Cholatte did notice it. He roared at Rick who fired as many rounds as he could into its wrist. The Cholatte roared again, but this time grabbed the railing with its other hand. Rick pushed the muzzle of his carbine into its mouth and fired. The Cholatte fell into the lake below. Rick turned to see Kate staring at him. He smiled and she smiled back.

Kate saw something past Rick that infuriated her. "Stay here!" She barked at Castle and headed down the deck.

"Kate, I'm going…" He felt a solid bump and looked down. Another boat had pulled alongside and pirates were getting ready to board them. He swore and started firing into the mass of pirates below him. One Tourbon in a garishly colored cloak seemed to be in charge, so Rick fired at him, missed and put the second round into his head. He was too busy to notice Kate.

"Chen!" Kate screamed at the woman. Chen was standing there, frozen. Her rifle was at her shoulder, but it didn't look like she'd fired a single round. Kate reached around and pulled the trigger of Chen's weapon, hoping the noise and the recoil would snap her out of her trance. Nothing happened. Kate tried again. Nothing. Kate pulled Chen's finger off the trigger and took her weapon, then pushed the woman down behind a steel plate. Next to her was a petite blonde, methodically working the bolt of her rifle and firing into the mass of pirates below. "Hey! Can you fire this weapon?" Kate screamed. The blonde paid her no attention. Kate grabbed her arm and shook it.

The blonde stared at Kate. "What?"

"Can you fire this weapon?"

The woman nodded wolfishly. "Sure. Trigger, safety, magazine release. No problem." She looked down at Chen. "Wounded?"

All Kate said was, "Fresh magazines are in her vest. She should have lots of ammo. Then she ran back to where she had left Rick. She found Amadeo and Irina with Rick, firing rapidly into the pirates below.

"Why are you here?" She yelled.

Irina turned and smiled. "No more pirates on the other side. Cynane sent half of us over here to help out."

Kate heard an odd popping noise she hadn't heard before followed by a loud blast. Amadeo was firing his grenade launcher into the pirates below, not only killing them, but damaging the boat. A second grenade punched a hole in the pirate's boat below the water line. At the same time, the pirates who had boarded were jumping off the _Poseidon's Dream._ It took Kate a few seconds, but she stared at the lake and saw only pirate craft receding in the distance. They had made it.

She turned and saw Rick smiling at her. She threw herself at him and kissed him hard and long. She pushed her boobs into his chest and felt his erection against her stomach.

"Oh! Is Chen dead?" Irina said, shocked.

Kate broke the kiss. "Not yet." She kissed Rick quickly. "I have to do something. Keep that thought." She said glancing below his belt. Then she strode down the deck to Chen, grabbed her arm and pulled her up and into Chen's cabin.

Kate slammed Chen down onto her bed. "What the hell is wrong with you? You're supposed to be a trained cop, or paramilitary or something. Why the hell are you like this?"

Chen stared down at the floor, ignoring Kate.

"What am I going to do with you? You're nothing but a drag on this team. You bitch constantly and you don't pull your weight. Can you think of any reason I should keep you on this team?"

Chen's head snapped up. Her eyes were full of tears. "I hate this! I hate it!" She screamed. "I never wanted to do any of this! I don't know how to do this!"

"What do you mean?" Kate asked, bewildered. "How could you not know how to do this?"

Chen shook her head and wiped the tears away. "It wasn't supposed to happen this way. My father is a general in the Peoples Armed Police. My two uncles are also generals. I was supposed to go to officer's candidate school, become a police lieutenant, and been stationed in Shanghai, or Canton, or somewhere nice. I was supposed to sit in a nice office and do paperwork, not grub around in the desert. But there was some kind of a scandal and the Party decided that we new officer candidates would go through regular basic training and be sent off to learn how to be police by being privates for a while. For a whole year! I never paid any attention to my training, I was a general's daughter. The trainers understood and let me slide. Then I was sent off to that awful desert hell hole, Kashgar. I hated it. I hated what I had to do. I left my group and wandered into the desert because I was tired of listening to a bunch of peasants jabber away. I didn't belong there. And then I found myself here! And I don't belong here either."

Kate shook her head. How could the hydrogen breathing geniuses who had dragged them out here have decided on Chen? She was a spoiled brat who was nearly useless as a cop, or anything else. "Chen, I don't care about your past or how many generals you have in your family. My problem is that you're pretty much useless to us. You don't want to be a cop? Okay? Do you want to leave the team? Believe me, I'd be happy to leave you, and I think you'd be better off away from us. You'll either get yourself killed or someone else."

Chen looked frightened. "You'd leave me? Here? With these people? How would I get home?"

Kate shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe our friends would send you back when we're done. Maybe not. But if you're dead, it won't matter much."

Chen shudder and grabbed Kate's hand. "Please don't leave me. I'll try. I can be useful. I'll do anything. Please. Don't leave me."

Kate had half expected Chen to jump at the chance to get away from the team. She hadn't expected this. She thought for a second. "Let me talk this over with my husband." She pulled her hand away from Chen's and left her sitting on her bed, crying and begging, "Please. Please. Please."

When she walked out of Chen's cabin, she saw Rick and he rest of her team and some of Sori's girls standing there, waiting for her.

"Kate, I have some news for you." Rick said, seriously.


	10. Chapter 10

The Magnificent Seven, Chapter Ten

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Still don't own this. I'd like to, but never will. Rating: M Time: The future.

Kate shook her head and sighed deeply. What the hell could be wrong now? "What? She asked sharply.

Castle gave her a reassuring smile. Somehow it didn't reassure her. "We could hear Chen. She's a bust, right?"

Kate got close to Rick, mostly because she wanted to be close to him, but also so Chen wouldn't hear her. "She's a useless, spoiled brat. And I just don't have the heart to dump her here and go on without her. I know I should, but I can't. She won't last ten minutes without us. I can't do that to anyone. I just hope it doesn't get anyone else killed."

"I agree with you, honey." Rick said softly. "Anyone have a different idea?" He asked more loudly.

No one said anything until Hendrik spoke up. "We all follow Captain Castle. If she won't leave Chen behind, she won't leave any of the rest of us behind."

That seemed to settle it, for which Kate was glad. "I really need to see you now, babe." She whispered into Rick's ear and pulled him towards their cabin.

"We have something else." He said, not moving. "You remember Penelope?"

Kate turned to the well-built redhead, who was smiling hopefully at Kate. "What do you want?" Kate was not happy about having to delay her time with Rick for some hooker.

"I'd like to join you." Penelope blurted out. "Now before you say no, hear me out. Your own people can testify that I fought well today." There were nods from Kate's team. "I was born into an infantry regiment. Had I been born a boy, I would have followed my father into that regiment. But I was born a girl. We aren't soldiers. Well, except the Amazons, and they live beyond the Scented Sea and you have to be born an Amazon. But I always wanted to be a soldier. If I'd stayed with the regiment, I'd have been a soldier's wife, caring for him, giving him children, providing offering to the gods when he died. Then marrying another soldier and starting all over again. Your team is different. It's led by a woman and you have two women members on the team. I admit one may not be useful, but Irina fought well today. This is what I want to do and I can only do it with you. I'm willing to start at the bottom and work hard. Please take me with you."

"Will this be a problem with Sori?" Kate asked, not that she really cared about Sori.

Penelope looked puzzled. "Why would it be? I'm a free agent."

Rick put both arms around her and pulled her close, whispering in her ear. "We're from out of town. We could use someone that knows the territory."

Kate looked at the rest of the team. "Anyone have any problems with Penelope?"

Everyone shook their heads. Irina smiled. "It'll be nice to have another woman around to talk to."

Kate looked around, trying to see if anyone looked like they were holding something back. As far as he could tell, no one was. "Okay, Penelope. You're in." She took ahold of Rick's hand and led him towards their cabin.

"I might be able to talk Chen into being more involved in the team." Penelope said as they left. Kate just waved at her.

An hour later Kate rested peacefully in Rick's arms. She planted a kiss on his naked chest and he stroked her face. "You are truly remarkable, Mrs. Castle."

She smiled. "As you are, Mr. Castle. I love making love with you."

He was about to suggest that another round was in order when a scream split the air.

"What the hell?" Kate yelled as the two of them rolled out of bed. They dressed as quickly as they could, grabbed their weapons and went out on deck. They found Amadeo and Irina waiting for them, also hastily dressed, but armed.

"That came from Chen's cabin, I think. "Irina said, looking down the deck with a worried look on her face.

"We'll check it…" Kate was cut off by another loud scream.

They quietly padded to Chen's cabin. Rick and Kate were together, Kate's hand gripping the doorknob. Amadeo and Irina stood behind them, weapons at the ready.

Another scream! This time they could hear Chen. "Yes! Yes! More! Do that again. Oh! Yes!"

Kate took her hand off of the door. "I think it's just Penelope doing some team bonding with Chen."

The four walked back to their cabins grinning. "I hope Chen does become more of a team member." Irina said.

"At least she won't be scowling all of the time." Castle added. Kate kit him lightly on the shoulder.

They were interrupted by a light tapping at their door. "Damn it!" Kate muttered as the two got dressed quickly again. Rick answered the door to find a ship's officer standing there. "Captain Kontos' compliments, sir. I've been instructed to ask you and your team to come to the first dinner shift tonight, if you could?"

Rick was suddenly conscious of the fact that he was hungry. He glanced at Kate who nodded. "Sure. We'll be there. We'll tell our people. See you then."

The two finished dressing and went to see Amadeo and Irina. Kate knocked on their door. "It's me, Kate." She called.

Eventually, Irina stuck her head out of the door. Her hair was mussed as was her makeup. "Yes?"

"Sorry to bother you, but they want us all at the first seating of dinner tonight. Okay?"

Irina checked her watch. "Sure." She giggled and seemed to push someone away, obviously Amadeo was behind the door. "We have time." She looked back at Kate. "I mean…"

"You have plenty of time, Irina." She said, leaving the couple alone.

Next they went to Fuad and Hendrik's cabin. They found the two sitting outside on the deck with four young ladies. Kate was sure she recognized them as having fought with her team earlier. She noticed a littler of wine bottles around them. Hendrik struggled to rise to his feet as Kate approached, but Fuad rose easily. Apparently he held to the Islamic prohibition against alcohol.

"Yes, Captain Castle?" Fuad said easily.

"Captain Kontos wants all of us at the first dinner tonight. I think it would be appropriate if you brought the young ladies along." The women grinned. Kate suspected they weren't often called ladies.

Lastly they headed for Chen's cabin. Kate knocked lightly and Penelope opened the door.

"Penelope, Captain Kontos would like us all at the first dinner tonight. Is Chen going to be in any shape to attend?"

Penelope laughed. "She'll be there. No worries."

Once back in their cabin, Rick and Kate decided there was indeed time for another round.

It was just after dusk and the _Poseidon's Dream_ was still plowing through the waters of the lake when they all arrived at the dining room. Chen was holding on to Penelope's arm and for once, she was smiling.

As they walked in, all eyes turned to them. They had entered, seemingly coincidently, with Cynane and the other women who'd fought that day. As the two groups stopped, the dining room erupted in cheers. Kate blushed, although the others seemed to enjoy the attention. Captain Kontos approached them. "Captain Castle, Lady Cynane, I thank you for your bravery today. As a small token of our esteem and thanks, the passengers have taken up a collection for your two teams." He handed both Kate and Cynane leather pouches, heavy with gold.

"Thank you so very much." Kate began, "But I really can't…"

Rick grabbed the bag. "We really can't thank you enough for this generous donation. Thank you. Thank you from each of us." Kate continued to smile, but the look in her eyes told Rick that this was not the end of the matter.

Cynane had no trouble accepting her bag of gold.

The two teams were led to a table in the center of the dining room a seated with great ceremony. Kate leaned over to Rick and whispered to him. "This is our job. We don't take payment for doing our jobs."

"Our job is to catch a killer on a planet far from home. And to get back to our own home in one piece. We need money. And we deserve the money."

Kate was about to start arguing, but the waiter arrived with the wine steward and here were too many people around to argue in public.

As they ate, passengers approached them to thank them personally for their efforts. A well dressed, attractive lady with a young girl in tow gushed at Kate. "I was so impressed with you and your…ladies, my dear. In my day, no woman would have dreamed of fighting like that. Things are changing, aren't they? Who knows what my little one might do with her life." The little girl blushed, but looked at Kate with clear hero worship in her eyes.

A portly young man approached the table and bowed to Kate. "I'm proud to say that I fought with Captain Castle this day. Although only armed with a revolver, I helped fight off those pirates. My compliments to all of you." He looked at the other young ladies sitting with Kate salaciously.

When he had left, a waiter placed a new plate in front of Kate. "Helped fight?" He muttered in her ear. "I helped man the fire hoses on the starboard side. All he did was fire his pistol out of the porthole in his cabin. He didn't hit a thing. We have you and your friends to thank." Then he moved away.

Near the end of the meal, Captain Kontos came to the table. "We'll be at Fort Cyrene tonight. We'll need to lay over. The ship took some damage. Nothing serious, but we need to make repairs and we have some wounded who should be sent to the hospital. You should all be able to have a day ashore."

"What's the place like?" Rick asked.

"Not much. It's at the far end of the lake. There's a military fort there, hence the name and there's a little village that's grown up around the fort. The usual things you'd find around a fort."

"Pawn shops and strip clubs?" Rick asked.

"And you know about strip clubs around military bases how?" Kate asked sweetly.

"Research. Pure research. Way before I ever met you." Rick said quickly.

And so Rick and Kate awoke the next morning after a night of restful sleep. Well, not all of their time was entirely restful, but when they did finally get to sleep, they were very tired and slept soundly.

"Hey. We're not moving." Rick said.

Kate got up and looked out the porthole. "We're anchored all right. I can see the shore. We're not far."

Rick sat there admiring his gorgeous wife in the buff. She smiled at him. "Like what you see, big boy?"

"I love what I see."

"And I love what I see." She said saucily.

Before anything else happened, there was a knock at their door. "Damn it!" Kate said. "You'd think Ryan was around with all interruptions we get."

"We could ignore it." Rick said hopefully.

"It might be important." Kate turned to the door and shouted, "We'll be out in a few minutes. We have to get dressed."

"Spoilsport." Rick grumped.

Kate walked over to him and leaned over him, swinging her boobs over his face. "We'll have time later."

Rick got dressed in a very disappointed mood.

When they opened the door, it was Penelope. "Can I talk to you, Captain?"

"Sure. Should we go outside?"

Penelope shook her head. "It's better if we talk alone."

"Rick's here. If you want us to be alone…"

"No. No. The two of you will be fine." Penelope closed the door and sat in the cabin's only chair, facing Rick and Kate on the bed. "Is it true what Chen said? That you're all from another planet?"

Rick and Kate looked at each other in shock. They hadn't anticipated this and had no idea how to respond.

Penelope saw their confusion and quickly reassured them. "I have no intention of telling anyone else or causing problems. But I examined the weapons that Chen has and her other gear. I've never seen anything like that rifle of hers, nor anything like your weapons. I grew up with soldiers, remember. And the marking on your gear, it's in a language I've never heard of."

"It's a big world…"Rick began.

Penelope continued on. "But most of all, it's Chen herself. Another thing I do know is women. Wealthy men will pay a great deal for a unique woman. But I've never seen anyone with eyes like Chen's. I have to believe what she says about another planet is true. Is it true? Are you from the world we came from all those centuries ago?"

Kate looked at Rick who shrugged. Kate spoke. "Yes, Penelope. We're from the planet Earth and your people came from there several thousand years ago." Kate proceeded to tell the fascinated Penelope all about how they had gotten here, why they were here and all about their lives on Earth.

"Women can be police officers on Earth? Soldiers even? They can do so many things we can't?"

Kate nodded. "Oh, there isn't perfect equality, but it's better than here."

"Can I come back with you?" Penelope asked anxiously.

"I don't know. I'm not even sure we can get back. From our understanding of how the Universe works, they can't do what they promised. On the other hand, they got us here so we don't know what they may be capable of."

Penelope sat there for a moment or two with a smile on her face and a faraway look in her eyes. Then she stood up. "I'm certainly your most loyal recruit. I pledge to serve you to the death Captain Castle."

"We'll try not to let that happen." Kate said.

"We should go out and look at Fort Cyrene." Penelope said, heading for the door.

"We'll be there in a few minutes." Rick said, sliding his hand around Kate.

More than a few minutes later, Rick and Kate went out to the deck. The rest of their team as well as some of the ladies who'd been with Cynane were standing by the rail. Kate could see the little town straggling along the edge of the lake, but no fort. "Do you see the fort?" She whispered to Rick.

"Cool! An invisible fort." He teased. "It's right there."

"Where is the fort?" She asked more loudly,

"Right there." Hendrik said, pointing to the hill behind the town.

"Right where? All I see is a hill." Kate said sharply.

"That's the fort. You can just see the tops of the barbed wire, can't you? They built a dry moat around the fort and filled it with barbed wire. You jump off your boat and go running to the fort and suddenly you find yourself with twenty meters of barbed wire to get through. Those slits in the hill are gunports. Machine guns and light artillery, I'd guess. They look to have overlapping fields of fire. They did a good job."

Kate took her binoculars out and studied the fort more carefully. She decided Hendrik was right. She could barely see the tops of some metal stakes and what might be barbed wire. She could also just make out what might be slits in the hill.

"What about the town?" Rick asked.

"I wouldn't bother." Penelope said. "It's a dump."

Kate and Rick decided to take a look at the town. After a half an hour, they decided Penelope was right. It was a dump. Although Rick managed to buy a pair of amber earrings for Kate.

Kate stood there in the little jewelry shop looking at their other wares.

"Do you want something else?" Rick asked.

"I was thinking about buying something for all of the members of the team. Sort of like insignia."

"Team Kate?" Rick said. "Kate's Killers? Oh! I know! The Wild Bunch!"

Kate gave him a half serious glare. "Really?"

The owner of the shop had been listening in, and since word of the battle on the lake had spread through the little town, he saw a business opportunity. After all, this woman and her team were famous. For the time being, anyway. "Excuse me, Captain Castle? You say you are looking for an insignia for your team?"

"Yes. Can you suggest anything?"

He took a small pin from a box behind the counter. "I have this in brass, but of course, you'd want yours in gold, which I can cast in a very short time. An hour or so. Look at the workmanship. See the quality."

He handed Kate a small pin: A thin brass circle with a pair of crossed rifles superimposed over it, not more than an inch and a half in diameter. "Yes. That's very much what I was thinking of. But gold…"

"Is exactly what we want." Rick said quickly, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his bag of gold. "We have the gold you can use for the pins. We'll need eight of them. How much would that come to?"

The shopkeeper thought for a second. "If you supply the gold, I can do it for a mere three gold pieces per pin."

Kate was about to agree, but Rick was too quick. "Three? More like fifteen for all eight."

"Fifteen?" The shopkeeper screamed, clutching his heart. "You would take advantage of me like that?" He turned to Kate. "This man is truly a cold blooded sort. A man who cares for no one."

"He's my husband." Kate said coldly.

"Such a good negotiator." The shopkeeper replied casually. "Perhaps twenty one for all eight?"

Ten minutes later, the deal was struck at eighteen pieces of gold. Rick was happy as he'd saved six gold pieces and the shopkeeper was happy as he was going to make a two hundred percent profit. An hour later, they picked up eight new golden insignias neatly tucked away in a small wooden box, each wrapped in cloth.

Arriving back at the _Poseidon's Dream_, Kate called her team, now including Penelope, together and presented them with their new insignia and personally thanking each one of them for their help so far. Needless to say, her speech to Chen was somewhat vague on specifics, but Chen looked happy for the first time since she had gotten to this planet.

The next day they headed for Alexandria the Farthest, first having to go through the Narrows. These were exactly what the name implied, a part of the river that was barely wide enough for two large ships to pass each other. Normally, the river tribes would extort money from passing ships on the pretext of protecting them from being shot at from the shore. The people who would do the shooting if not paid were the same ones who would do the "protecting" if the tribes were paid off. However, the local tribes had heard some exaggerated stories about the fighting prowess of the people protecting _Poseidon's Dream_ and made quite reasonable, for them, demands.

Eventually Kate and her team found themselves standing on the dock at Alexandria the Farthest, looking around.

"It is and it isn't what I expected." Rick said.


	11. Chapter 11

The Magnificent Seven, Chapter Eleven

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Show of hands. How many people think I own Castle? WRONG! Rating: M Time: The future.

Rick was both impressed and disappointed with Alexandria the Farthest. The first thing he noticed was an earthen berm that seemed to go all around the city. "What's with the wall or whatever?"

Penelope answered. "To keep enemies out, of course. The open spaces in front are all mined. There are warning signs, but pay attention. There are bunkers built into the wall and artillery positions behind it. Plus, there are ancient directed energy weapons in the towers. Any enemy army that attacked Alexandria the Farthest would be slaughtered."

The towers were the second thing that both impressed and bothered Rick. There were at least a dozen of them sticking up above the berm. One, a slim tower, appeared to stick up a good twenty stories above the berm. The lower half was all soft pastel colors that Rick saw slowly changing. The top half was a dull grey. Another tower resembled a bright red mushroom, but Rick could see that most of the windows were gone. A third building was a square black building that looked like it had been melted on one side. A fourth slim tower seemed to have had its top sliced off diagonally.

Before he got through examining the buildings, Kate took his hand. "Let's find a place to stay." They headed towards the city gates. They found a line of travelers from the _Poseidon's Dream _already ahead of them. They waited as the line moved forward slowly.

They finally got to the head of the line where a bored soldier glanced at them and said, "Papers?"

Penelope smiled at the soldier and put small booklet down on the table in front of the soldier. "They're from another city and have no papers."

The soldier looked up and smiled. "Penelope? Penelope from Sori's? I saw you at Birthday a couple of years ago. You look hotter now than you did then."

Penelope smiled and leaned over, allowing the soldier to look down her shirt. "I am hotter than I was then, soldier. So how about letting me and my friends in?"

The soldier looked up at the team. "Sure. They'll have to sign in and then get temporary papers from the palace within forty eight hours. You know the drill."

Penelope smiled. "You know I know the drill." She whispered seductively.

"See you later?"

"Look me up."

The remaining seven signed a book for the gate guard who didn't seem to care that the names were written in the Latin alphabet, Arabic and Chinese. Then they were inside the city.

Alexandria the Farthest was even less impressive to Rick from the inside. There were wide spaces between the towers that seemed to have once been wide roads and open, green spaces. The road they were on was now barely a lane wide, the rest covered with tents, shacks, and other less comprehensible structures. Most traffic was on foot, but with many animal drawn carts visible. He counted exactly three trucks, seemingly steam powered and then looked up as a shadow passed over him. A large clear ball floated by a good twenty feet above him and the hustle and bustle of the city. A well-dressed older woman looked down on them, disdain plain on her face. Sitting next to her was a plainly dressed younger woman, possibly a maid. Two children peered down, laughing at something they saw.

"Where do we stay?" Kate asked, interrupting Rick's sightseeing.

Penelope answered. "The Restful Moonlight Inn. It's near the Palace and is popular with the better class of merchants who come to the city. And it's reasonably inexpensive. I stayed there for a week with a young nobleman from Chios. He had this habit…"Penelope stopped and looked at Chen, who seemed upset. Jealous, perhaps.

"That sounds fine." Kate said.

It was fine, if more expensive than Kate would have liked. As usual, she and Rick shared a room, Chen and Penelope another, Amadeo and Irina were together and Fuad and Hendrick shared a room with their four lady friends. Kate looked around their room. Large, spacious and with a balcony from which they could look down four stories to the street and also look over to the Palace, not that far away. She smiled at Rick who was testing the bed. She checked out the bathroom, noting that the locals seemed to go in for tubs the size of small swimming pools. At least they'd have fun cleaning up.

She started to take off her top when, as if on cue, there was a knock at the door. She sighed and went to open it.

"Sorry to bother you, Captain." Fuad said, "But we need to talk about Penelope's weapons."

Kate tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice. "There's a problem with her weapon? It seemed to work well enough in the fight on the _Poseidon's Dream_."

Fuad nodded solemnly. "True enough. But she has a bolt action rifle and a revolver. Fine weapons locally, but we were sent here with top of the line weaponry. That indicates to me that we may have to fight, even though we're supposed to be investigating a murder. As far as I know, our alien friends had no idea we'd end up fighting pirates or anyone before we got here. Penelope needs something better that a bolt action rifle."

Kate had to admit he was probably right. "And where do we get new weapons?"

"Penelope says the Street of the Gunsmith's is near. They should have plenty."

Fels the gunsmith did have plenty. Not enough, mind you. You never had enough guns in his opinion. And the weapons the newcomers brought to his shop made his mouth water.

"How may I assist you?" He asked Fuad, guessing he was the leader of this group.

Fuad looked down his nose at the gunsmith. "I serve the famous Captain Katherine Castle." He gestured to Kate. "We need a weapon for one of her many followers. It was suggested you may have something." Fuad tried to sound as disinterested as possible.

Fels looked at the beautiful brunette who apparently led this band. Who was this famous Captain Katherine Castle, anyway? Well, a little flattery wouldn't hurt. "I would be honored to serve such a notable commander. What are your needs?"

Hendrik cleared his throat. "This looks promising." He held up what vaguely resembled an old Thompson submachine gun, complete with a round ammunition drum.

Fels smiled. "You have a discerning eye, lord. A fine weapon."

Fuad and Hendrik examined the weapon. "What kind of ammunition does it shoot?" Fuad asked.

"The seven millimeter short round, lord." Fels reached under the counter and brought out a single round of ammunition. Both Fuad and Hendrik examined the round and said "Hmm." at the same time.

"It looks like an early try at an assault rifle." Fuad said. Hendrik nodded in agreement.

"And an assault rifle is different from other rifles because?" Rick asked.

Hendrik pulled a 9mm pistol round from one of the magazines he had. "Most submachine guns fire pistol ammunition, mostly the 9mm Parabellum. People figured out you could use a more powerful round, but not as powerful as the full power rifle round, "He pulled a round from his rifle magazine out and put it next to the pistol round, "and get a weapon you could fire on full automatic that had better range and punch than a submachine gun." Fuad put an M 16 round down between the pistol and the rifle round. It was bigger than the pistol round and smaller than the rifle round. "As so." Fuad then put the new weapon's round down beside the other three. It was bigger than the pistol round, but not quite as big as the M 16 round.

"Is ammunition plentiful for this weapon? Spare parts?"

Fels nodded. "I have lots of both. It is still in use with a number of City regiments. Not the Guards, of course. They use more modern weapons, such as your own. Would you perhaps be interested in selling…"

"No." Fuad said. "Do you have any weapons that the Guard would carry?"

Fels shook his head. He did indeed have some hidden away, but he wouldn't sell them to complete strangers. Too dangerous. "Alas, lord, the Palace won't allow such sales. This is a fine weapon, though. The best that I have."

"We also need a pistol." Penelope spoke up for the first time.

"An automatic. Something that could use this round?" Fuad tapped the pistol round. "Or any other ammunition that would fit our weapons?"

Fels picked up the rounds one by one and carefully examined them. "No, lord. I have none. Your ammunition is not in my inventory, and if I don't have it, it's not to be had." He walked down the counter a bit and took a pistol from a display case. "This is my finest pistol. It fires an 11mm round. I would strongly recommend it."

Fuad, Hendrik and Penelope examined the pistol.

"We wish to sell a bolt action rifle and a revolver as well as buying your weaponry. How much do you want for your weapons?" Fuad asked.

And so the bargaining began. It took over an hour, but they left with two new weapons for Penelope.

Once back at the inn, Rick and Kate took a long, hot bath together, and continued their activities in their bed.

They were still asleep when there was a knocking at their door, just at dawn. "Damn!" Rick muttered. Kate started to get up. "No, go back to sleep, honey. I'll take care of it." Kate didn't argue and Rick pulled on his pants.

"What?" He said, opening the door. Before him was young boy, perhaps twelve, dressed in a bright red uniform. The boy looked up at him with a superior air. "Captain Kessel?"

"It's Castle. And that's my wife. She's still asleep. And thanks, but I gave at the office."

"I'm from the Palace." The boy said self-importantly.

"I still gave at the office." Rick said grumpily and started to close the door.

The boy stuck his foot in the door. "You are required to be at the Palace two hours after noon with your team."

"Yeah, we know. We have to get driver's licenses or passports or something."

The boy shook his head. "Her Majesty requires your presence." The boy handed Rick a piece of paper. "Read tremblingly and obey." He said, snottily and walked off.

Kate was sitting up in bed, giving Rick a look at her boobs when he turned around. "As long as we're awake…" he began.

"We should wake Penelope up and see what this is all about." Kate finished for him.

"Can't we let poor Penelope sleep a little longer?" Rick pouted.

They both dressed and went to Penelope's room. Kate knocked quietly and Penelope answered the door, wearing a robe that she hadn't closed all the way. Rick quickly put his hands over his eyes, before Kate could cover them.

Penelope laughed. "Sorry. I'm sort of used to advertising my wares. What is it?"

Kate showed her the letter and described the young boy who'd delivered it.

"Red uniform? That was a Palace page. And the letter is from one of the Queen's secretaries. This isn't about getting our identity documents. Someone wants to see us. Someone in the Palace."

"The Queen?" Rick asked.

"Not likely. People have probably been talking about our battle on the lake and about how you came here through Cholatte country. I'd guess it's some intelligence or military type wants to know what you saw."

"That could be a problem. "Rick said. "We didn't see anything. The locals are bound to know all about the Cholattes. At least a hell of a lot more than we know. They'll smell a rat at once."

Penelope frowned. "Why would they want to..? Oh! An analogy. I see. All you have to do is be vague. You're strangers. You walked through mountains and then through a vast forest. You didn't see a lot of Cholattes. You were just lucky. When you reached the river, you followed it and killed some Cholattes. Having no maps, you really have no idea where you were."

Kate nodded. "Okay. We'd better get everyone up so we can get our stories straight. We all still have MREs, so let's have breakfast in our room in an hour."

Irina answered the door tired, looking mussed and barely decent. She agreed that she and Amadeo would be at Kate's room in an hour.

Hendrik answered the door, wearing only a shirt, which fortunately for Kate's sake, was very long. However, behind him were the four women who'd been with Fuad and Hendrik on the boat. All were stark naked and facing the door, looks of curiosity on their faces. Fuad appeared to be sound asleep on the bed,

Rick casually looked down the hall while Kate told Hendrik of the summons to the Palace and the breakfast meeting.

"Should our friends come, too?" Hendrik asked, gesturing to the ladies. "To the Palace, that is?"

Kate sighed. "Why not? The more the merrier. But do have them get dressed."

"Of course we'll get dressed to go to the Palace." One girl said, sounding insulted.

"Of course you will. Just teasing." Kate said, wondering how she had ended up with such a group.

They went back to their room. "I suppose you've had your minimum daily requirement of scantily clad women?" Kate teased.

"All I need is my minimum daily requirement of Kate." Rick replied gallantly. "But I'd much rather have my maximum daily allowance of Kate."

"Good answer. Good answer, indeed."

After they went over their non-answers for whoever in the palace wanted to see them, Kate made sure everyone's uniform was clean, boots were polished, equipment in good shape and all weapons clean and functional.

They arrived at the Palace a good hour early and found themselves standing with a crowd of people, all of whom were either here to see someone or here to try to see someone. They were politely, but firmly, relieved of their weapons, being given receipts and told where they could retrieve them when they left the palace.

Penelope snuck off with some red suited palace flunky. "I hope she has a good time." Irina said with a giggle.

"Just don't think of sneaking off with Amadeo for a quicky." Kate said.

The look on Amedeo and Irina's face told Kate that they hadn't thought of it until Kate had mentioned it. "I mean it." Kate said seriously. Amadeo shrugged.

Rick walked around the crowded anteroom as best he could, then came back to the team. "Not surprisingly, this looks like the Acropolis in Athens. But it's built to the scale of Hearst Castle. I like the carpets on the marble floor. Keeps your tootises from getting cold. Nice mural, too. I wonder who they are?"

"The current royal family." Penelope said, sliding through the crowd to stand next to Kate. The one in the middle is Olympia, Iskander's mother." Rick looked at the mural. Olympia was a babe, if the portrait was to be believed, tall and slender with a flat stomach and nice boobs, all set off by a very tight white dress. A mane of raven hair framed her face that was notable for high cheekbones and blue-grey eyes. However, the expression on her face was cold and haughty. "She looks like she can't decide whether to have someone drawn and quartered, or broken on the rack. And is wondering if she can do both." He said.

Penelope shrugged. "I don't know much about her personally. We don't move in exactly the same social circles. Of course the Palace's propaganda makes her out to be Our Beloved Queen."

"She is gorgeous, if the mural is anything to go by." Kate added.

Penelope just shrugged. "The one on her right is Phillip, Iskander's older brother." Phillip looked stern and commanding, as well as tough.

"He's...?" Kate began.

"Not all there." Penelope finished. "That's why Iskander became King."

"The kid?" Rick asked.

"Iskander's son by Roxanne of Delos, Iskander II. She had a terrible accident shortly after Iskander's death. To be expected when a foreign princess gets in the way of the succession."

"The girl?" Rick asked.

"Iskander's younger sister, Arsinoe. She's about sixteen now. She'll be a nice prize for whichever general grabs the throne. A marriage to her would help legitimatize out new king."

"What about Iskander II?" Kate asked. "Wouldn't he be next in line?"

"A child as king? That may be how they do it in this Noo Yawk you're from, but he won't last long enough to reign in his own right."

"Couldn't someone marry Olympia? She's the queen. Wouldn't that give her husband legitimacy?"

"Not going to happen." A new male voice said. "Olympia is far too stubborn for her own good. She won't let anything happen to her son or grandson, so she'll end up dead, too." The man, who had previously disappeared with Penelope, slid his arm around her. "I found out who wants you, love."

Penelope laughed. "I know who wants me." She turned to Kate. "Captain Castle, this is Attalus, Chief Secretary to Queen Olympia's senior Lady-in-Waiting. And a friend. What did you learn, Attalus?"

"The Royal Geographer has requested the pleasure of Captain Castle's company, and that of her team. Come one, love. I'll take you to him through the Throne Room. Let you see all of the famous people you only read about in those trashy news rags you're addicted to."

Attalus led them through and inconspicuous doorway and through a series of cramped passageways until they came out in the back of the throne room.

"This is used as a stage when Her Majesty has entertainers in. That doesn't happen much anymore. But, since it's the farthest away from the throne, it's not over run with people." Indeed, there were no more than a dozen bored looking servants standing around.

The team walked up to the edge of the stage and looked out over the throne room. At the far end were Queen Olympia, sitting in the center, Phillip on her right, Iskander II on her left and Arsinoe sitting below them. Below them, the throne room was crowded with people of all races.

"Is it just me, or is the crowd divided into three groups, color coded for our convenience?"

Attalus laughed. "Very good, sir. Those are the followers of the three generals vying to take over Alexandria the Farthest. See the man in the gold sash with the gold shoulder boards?" Rick saw a tall spare man with a lean face and salt and pepper hair in a gorgeous blue uniform and nodded.

"That, Lord Castle, is Menander, the commander of the Companions, and all of the Royal Guard regiments. His army is the smallest, but the best equipped and best trained and it has the advantage of being here. Very convenient if you're planning a coup."

"Ceremonial guards aren't necessarily the best soldiers." Rick replied.

"Oh, they're good. Iskander used them as his reserve on all of his campaigns. When the battle was in the balance, he sent in the Guards and then his Companions. And, as you can see, his partisans wear gold somewhere on themselves."

"Who are the people in blue?" Kate asked.

"Antipater's followers. He's the chap in the center of the throne room with his back to us. You can just see his blue sash and blue shoulder boards. He's a rather stocky fellow. He's the Viceroy of the lands beyond the Scented Sea, wealthy, industrialized cities, rich farmlands and mines everywhere. His army is about twice the size of Menander's but not as well equipped, However, Antipater controls the navy, which means no one can get across the Scented Sea to get to him."

"I think I see Antigonus, One Eye." Kate said. Oddly, Antigonus was looking away from the royal family and back at the stage. He seemed to be looking right at Kate.

"He'd be hard to miss." Attalus said. The left side of Antigonus' face was badly scarred and he was missing an eye. His sash was green as were his shoulder boards. As usual, everyone around him had green on their uniforms or on their clothing. "He commands the Army of the South, which is the most powerful army, larger by far than Menander and Antipater's forces combined."

"So he's the front runner?" Rick asked.

"No." Attalus said with a shake of his head. "He's the only one of the generals who has powerful enemies on the borders of his domain. And a lot of the cities he commands are recently conquered. If he took his whole army north, it would all explode behind him."

"So, the players are all well matched, strengths and weaknesses cancel each other out." Penelope said. "And when one makes his move, the butcher's bill will be paid by people like us."

"Come, I'll take you to the Royal Geographer. He's just across the throne room." Attalus said.

They were skirting between the partisans of Menander and Antipater when a man who had been addressing the Queen suddenly collapsed.

"Cassander, the queen's senior advisor. He has the falling disease." Attalus said quietly. "Keep going."

Amadeo stopped. "Wait." He said, and then more loudly he said, "I can help."


End file.
